View allAll Photos Tagged politicKING
The Tule Elk rut was at the top of my Pt. Reyes to-do list this past October. What luck to come across this herd, overlooking the Blue Pacific (Ocean). In fact, the image in my mind was of this magnificent bull there over the Ocean, but honestly, he was too busy keeping his women rounded up, and this was the "best" I could do.
Actually, there is some serious politicking going on about these endemic elk here at our National Seashore - wildlife vs ranchers, and it's not looking pretty for the elk. You can read about it at the restoreptreyesseashore.org/
website
and log your comments with the NPS at:
I don't always shoot trains on weekends, but when I do, it often involves some "politicking" with the family. Earlier this afternoon, I was hiking over at Five Rivers in New Scotland with my wife and my son, knowing that later in the afternoon Amtrak 108 would be leading Train 449 within striking distance. Once our son seemed to be getting pretty tuckered out, rather than heading for home I convinced my wife that we could head back across the Hudson River to Chatham, grab some ice cream at Dairy Queen, I could get a couple shots of 449, and we still get home in time for our son's usual bedtime routine. Though 449 ran about 15 minutes late today, overall my plan went smoothly and resulted in a shot at State Line, as well as this shot at Chatham Center.
Amtrak Train 449
Chatham Center, NY
September 19, 2021
Diamond Head, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, got its name from the glinting calcite crystals that sailors mistook for diamonds on the extinct volcanic crater to the west. Despite the fact that diamonds were never found at the historic crater, the name stuck. However, after two different ships were grounded on the reef off Oahu’s south shore in the 1800s, it was decided that a new type of shining light was necessary. After much politicking, Hawaii’s territorial government set aside $2,500 in 1899 to construct a south-facing Diamond Head Lighthouse tower.
For the first 20 years, keepers of the Diamond Head lighthouse were forced to live about a quarter mile down the road, in what is now one of the most affluent neighborhoods on Oahu. Eventually, a keeper’s house was built near the tower but it was only used for three years, as the lighthouse became automated in 1924. Three years earlier, the source of light had changed from oil to electricity, considerably lowering the need for frequent maintenance.
In subsequent years, the keeper’s quarters next to the lighthouse tower underwent various modifications. Remodeled in the 1960’s, it became the home of the Commanders of the Fourteenth Coast Guard District, which had also taken control of all lighthouse operations in 1939 and continues today.
Today, the Diamond Head lighthouse overlooks one of the most popular surf spots on Oahu, frequented by the saltiest of sea dogs and those just learning. The surrounding area is additionally very popular for runners, walkers or anyone inclined to experience a majestic view of the Pacific Ocean. There is a small grassy area atop the cliffs of Diamond Head, perfect for viewing a sunset or admiring the wide variety of skills of the surfers below. The lighthouse also marks the finish line for the biennial Transpac Yacht Race, which begins thousands of miles away in Long Beach, California.
The Diamond Head Lighthouse was featured on a United States postage stamp in June 2007. And it was also listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
This photo was taken from the very top of Diamond Head, at a height of 762 ft above sea level, looking down on the lighthouse.
Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D7200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.
"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11
Political booths used to be allowed here and there, in the fair. But fairgoers complained that they didn't appreciate the politicking when they were trying to have a nice day out.
So, the Fair designated a specific area for political booths.
The Democrats gracefully accepted, agreed, and moved their booth.
BUT (can you see what's coming?)
An insider (who asked to remain anonymous), told me that the Republicans had a temper tantrum about it. They ran (wetting themselves, probably), to TACO's administration, sobbing about how THEY deserved special treatment!
So, the TACO administration LITERALLY threatened to send TACO's Gestapo National Guard to BLOCK the fairground, and not allow the fair to happen!
Now, I want to assure everyone reading this (including TACO and his Gestapo), that the people of Washington would NOT have allowed "The Puyallup" to be locked down by a pissypants pack of TACO's personal stormtroopers.
BUT (can you see what's coming?)
The person in charge of the fair (it's privately owned) is either a Republican or a straight up coward (possibly both), and (just like ABC and CBS), bent over, took it up the Gestaphole, and allowed ONLY the Republicans to have their made-in-China, flag disrespecting merch inside.
So, here I am, legally utilizing my 1st Amendment rights to say, IF you are able to vote in 2026, or ever again, vote BLUE for a return to real LAWS and RIGHTS, even the ones that don't make white/orange men look like god-kings.
They're not.
Big Women exhibition at Colchester Firstsite
I see BIG WOMEN as both an endorsement and a celebration of women’s achievement in the creative field. It aspires to be thought provoking, funny, serious, attractive and fun. God knows we need it in these times dominated by male aggression, politicking, greed, war and pig-headedness.” – Sarah Lucas
Manufacturer: Morris Motors Ltd., Oxford - UK / British Motor Corporation Limited (BMC), Longbridge - UK
Type: Minor 1000 Series II 2-Door Saloon
Production time: July 1952 - September 1956
Production outlet: 269,838
Engine: 803cc straight-4 Austin A-series 803 OHV
Power: 30 bhp / 4.800 rpm
Torque: 54 Nm / 2.400 rpm
Drivetrain: rear wheels
Speed: 101 km/h
Curb weight: 760 kg
Wheelbase: 85.8 inch
Chassis: with steel monocoque
Steering: rack and pinion
Gearbox: four-speed manual close ratio / II, III and IV synchronized / floor shift
Clutch: hydraulic single dry plate disc
Carburettor: SU H1 sidedraft
Fuel tank: 45 liter
Electric system: Lucas 12 Volts 38 Ah
Ignition system: distributor and coil
Brakes front: hydraulic Lockheed drums
Brakes rear: hydraulic Lockheed drums
Suspension front: independent trapezoidal double wishbone, torsion bar springs front rubber cones + hydraulic Armstrong-piston shock absorbers
Suspension rear: beam axle, trucks with semi-elliptic leaf springs + hydraulic Armstrong-piston shock absorbers
Rear axle: live
Differential: hypoid 5.375:1
Wheels: 14 inch steel discs
Tires: 5.00 - 14
Options: RHD, LHD, radio
Special:
- Designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis, the Minor Series had his debut at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, on 20 September 1948.
- Originally the protoype was called the Mosquito.
- Considered to be the “World's Supreme Small Car”, it was the first British car to ever to reach a production rate of one million (in 1961), in total 1,532,223 units, including 74,960 Tourers.
- Originally the flat strip running down the center of the bonnet is a tribute to the historic decision regarding the Morris Minors.
- The Morris Minor was a limited sell in America, which may have been a result of internal politicking by inside manufacturer BMC (British Motor Corporation).
- The Minor Series took it successfully against the Volkswagen Beetle, the Renault 4CV and Citroen 2CV and was built until 1971 (Tourer models until 1969).
- The Minor Series was available as this 2-door Saloon, as 4-door Saloon, as 2-door Tourer, as 2-door wood-framed Traveller, as 2-door Traveller wood-framed Estate, as 2-door Pick-Up and as 2-door Panel Van.
- The Minor Series was assembled in Oxford (UK), Birmingham (UK) and in Victoria Park (Australia).
Manufacturer: Morris Motors Ltd., Oxford - UK / British Motor Corporation Limited (BMC), Longbridge - UK
Type: Minor 1000 ADO59 Saloon
Production time: September 1962 - November 1970
Production outlet: 303,443
Engine: 1098cc straight-4 BMC Austin A-series 67 CID
Power: 50 bhp / 5.150 rpm
Torque: 81.5 Nm / 2.500 rpm
Drivetrain: rear wheels
Speed: 121 km/h
Curb weight: 755 kg
Wheelbase: 86 inch
Chassis: box frame with cross braces and all-steel monocoque body
Steering: rack and pinion
Gearbox: four-speed manual close ratio / II, III and IV synchronized / floor shift
Clutch: single dry plate disc
Carburettor: SU HS2
Fuel tank: 45 liter
Electric system: Lucas 12 Volts 43 Ah
Ignition system: distributor and coil
Brakes front: hydraulic Lockheed drums (two primary jaws)
Brakes rear: hydraulic Lockheed drums
Suspension front: independent trapezoidal double wishbone, trapezoid triangle cross-bars, longitudinal torsion bar springs front rubber cones + hydraulic Armstrong-piston shock absorbers
Suspension rear: radial axle, trucks with longitudinal semi-elliptic leaf springs + hydraulic Armstrong-piston shock absorbers
Rear axle: live
Differential: hypoid 4.22:1
Wheels: 14 inch steel discs
Tires: 5.20 - 14 tubeless
Options: RHD, LHD, radio
Special:
- The Morris Motor Company was started in 1910 when bicycle manufacturer William Morris turned his attention to car manufacturing and began to plan a new light car. A factory was opened in 1913 in a former military college at Cowley, Oxford, United Kingdom, and the company's first car, the 2-seat Morris Oxford "Bullnose" was introduced.
- In 1952, the Nuffield Organisation merged with its old rival the Austin Motor Company to form the British Motor Corporation (BMC).
- Designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis, the Minor Series had his debut at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, on 20 September 1948.
- Originally the protoype was called the Mosquito.
- Considered to be the “World's Supreme Small Car”, it was the first British car to ever to reach a production rate of one million (in 1961), in total 1,532,223 units, including 74,960 Tourers.
- Originally the flat strip running down the center of the bonnet is a tribute to the historic decision regarding the Morris Minors.
- The Morris Minor was a limited sell in America, which may have been a result of internal politicking by inside manufacturer BMC (British Motor Corporation).
- The Minor Series took it successfully against the Volkswagen Beetle, the Renault 4CV and Citroen 2CV and was built until 1971 (Tourer models until 1969).
- The Minor Series was available as this four-door Saloon, as two-door Saloon, as two-door Tourer, as two-door wood-framed Traveller, as two-door Traveller wood-framed Estate, as two-door Pick-Up and as two-door Panel Van.
- The Minor Series was assembled in Oxford (UK), Birmingham (UK) and in Victoria Park (Australia).
Manufacturer: Morris Motors Ltd., Oxford - UK / British Motor Corporation Limited (BMC), Longbridge - UK
Type: Minor 1000 Four-Door Saloon
Production time: October 1956 - September 1962
Production outlet: 544,048
Engine: 948cc straight-4 BMC Austin A-series 948
Power: 37 bhp / 4.750 rpm
Torque: 68 Nm / 2.500 rpm
Drivetrain: rear wheels
Speed: 117 km/h
Curb weight: 810 kg
Wheelbase: 85.8 inch
Chassis: with steel monocoque
Steering: rack and pinion
Gearbox: four-speed manual close ratio / II, III and IV synchronized / floor shift
Clutch: single dry plate disc
Carburettor: SU HS2
Fuel tank: 45 liter
Electric system: Lucas 12 Volts 43 Ah
Ignition system: distributor and coil
Brakes front: hydraulic Lockheed drums
Brakes rear: hydraulic Lockheed drums
Suspension front: independent trapezoidal double wishbone, torsion bar springs front rubber cones + hydraulic Armstrong-piston shock absorbers
Suspension rear: trucks with semi-elliptic leaf springs + hydraulic Armstrong-piston shock absorbers
Rear axle: live
Differential: hypoid
Wheels: 14 inch steel discs
Tires: 5.00 - 14 tubeless
Options: RHD, LHD, radio
Special:
- Designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis, the Minor Series had his debut at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, on 20 September 1948.
- Originally the protoype was called the Mosquito.
- Considered to be the “World's Supreme Small Car”, it was the first British car to ever to reach a production rate of one million (in 1961), in total 1,532,223 units, including 74,960 Tourers.
- Originally the flat strip running down the center of the bonnet is a tribute to the historic decision regarding the Morris Minors.
- The Morris Minor was a limited sell in America, which may have been a result of internal politicking by inside manufacturer BMC (British Motor Corporation).
- The Minor Series took it successfully against the Volkswagen Beetle, the Renault 4CV and Citroen 2CV and was built until 1971 (Tourer models until 1969).
- The Minor Series was available as this four-door Saloon, as two-door Saloon, as two-door Tourer, as two-door wood-framed Traveller, as two-door Traveller wood-framed Estate, as two-door Pick-Up and as two-door Panel Van.
- The Minor Series was assembled in Oxford (UK), Birmingham (UK) and in Victoria Park (Australia).
Manufacturer: British Motor Corporation / Morris Motors Limited, Cowley, Oxford - United Kingdom
Type: Minor 1000 Tourer
Engine: 948cc straight-4 BMC Austin A-series 948
Power: 37 bhp / 4.800 rpm
Speed: 115 km/h
Production time: 1956 - 1962
Production outlet: unknown
Curb weight: 761 kg
- Designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis, the Minor Series had his debut at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, on 20 September 1948.
- Considered to be the “World's Supreme Small Car”, it was the first British car to ever to reach a production rate of one million (in 1961), in total 1,532,223 units, including 74,960 Tourers.
- Originally the protoype was called the Mosquito.
- Originally the flat strip running down the center of the bonnet is a tribute to the historic decision regarding the Morris Minors.
- It had unique features such as monocoque design rather than the traditional chassis/body, striking styling lines, dished steering wheel, independent front suspension and small fourteen inch wheels.
- The Morris Minor was a limited sell in America, which may have been a result of internal politicking by inside manufacturer BMC (British Motor Corporation).
- The Minor Series took it successfully against the Volkswagen Beetle, the Renault 4CV and Citroen 2CV and was built until 1971 (Tourer models until 1969).
- The canvas roof, including the rear window is rolled back, with the side windows remain in place.
- The Tourer was called Convertible in North-America, Découvrable in France and often called Cabrio-Limousine elsewhere on the Continent.
- This 2-door Convertible has a four-speed manual close-ratio gearbox, a SU H2 carburettor, a 29 liter fuel tank and rear wheel drive.
- The chassis with steel monocoque body has a 86 inch wheelbase, double wishbone with torsion bar spring front rubber cone suspension, semi-elliptic leaf spring rear suspension, rack and pinion steering and drum brakes all round.
- The Minor Series was available as this Tourer, as Saloon Car, as wood-framed Traveller, as Traveller wood-framed Estate, as Pick-Up and as Panel Van.
Manufacturer: British Motor Corporation / Morris Motors Limited, Cowley, Oxford - United Kingdom
Type: Minor MM 2-door Saloon
Engine: 918cc straight-4
Power: 27 bhp / 4.400 rpm
Speed: 100 km/h
Production time: 1948 - 1950
Production outlet: 176,002
Curb weight: 745 kg
- Designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis, the Minor Series had his debut at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, on 20 September 1948.
- Considered to be the 'World's Supreme Small Car', it was the first British car to ever reach a production rate of one million (in 1961).
- Originally the protoype was called the Mosquito.
- Originally the flat strip running down the center of the bonnet is a tribute to the historic decision regarding the Morris Minors.
- It had unique features such as monocoque design rather than the traditional chassis/body, striking styling lines, independent front suspension, small fourteen inch wheels and pinion steering.
- The MM has a four-speed manual transmission, one SU carburettor, rear wheel drive and drum brakes.
- A vehicle that combined the luxuries and conveniences of a reliable motor vehicle with a price even the working class could afford.
- In 1950 the headlights moved above the radiator grille.
- The Morris Minor was a limited sell in America, which may have been a result of internal politicking by inside manufacturer BMC (British Motor Corporation).
- It was assembled in Cowley/Oxford (England) and in Victoria Park (Australia).
- The complete Series MM was built between 1948 and 1953 (from 1950 with the new front/head lights and a four-door version appeared), in total 250,962.
- This four-seater took it successfully against the Volkswagen Beetle, the Renault 4CV and Citroen 2CV and was built until 1971.
Manufacturer: British Motor Corporation / Morris Motors Limited, Cowley, Oxford - United Kingdom
Type: Minor Series II
Engine: 803cc straight-4
Power: 30 bhp / 4.800 rpm
Speed: 100 km/h
Production time: 1953 - 1956
Production outlet: 269,838
Curb weight: 760 kg
- Designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis, the Minor Series had his debut at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, on 20 September 1948.
- Considered to be the 'World's Supreme Small Car', it was the first British car to ever reach a production rate of one million (in 1961).
- Originally the protoype was called the Mosquito.
- Originally the flat strip running down the center of the bonnet is a tribute to the historic decision regarding the Morris Minors.
- It had unique features such as monocoque design rather than the traditional chassis/body, striking styling lines, independent front suspension, small fourteen inch wheels and pinion steering.
- The Morris Minor was a limited sell in America, which may have been a result of internal politicking by inside manufacturer BMC (British Motor Corporation).
- This four-seater took it successfully against the Volkswagen Beetle, the Renault 4CV and Citroen 2CV and was built until 1971.
"Politicking"
Genève (Suisse)
Website : www.fluidr.com/photos/pat21
"Copyright © – Patrick Bouchenard
The reproduction, publication, modification, transmission or exploitation of any work contained here in for any use, personal or commercial, without my prior written permission is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved."
♫Lex The Hex Master - Chill Mode♫
I be on my chill shit
Yeah, I mean that chill shit
Take another drink another smoke so I don't feel shit
Baby, it's on
Take another drag and let it fly away
Baby, it's on
And I'ma take another drag and let it fly away
I be on my chill shit
Yeah, I mean that chill shit
Take another drink another smoke so I don't feel shit
Baby, it's on
Take another drink unless you tell me so
Baby, it's on
And I'ma take another drink unless you tell me so
[Verse 1]
I be on that cool breeze, that chuck chill out
Kill my vibe i punch ya grill out
Haters wanna hate but I bet they'll still bounce and trynna hold me down
But my music still out
All across the globe another episode
Hit the stage with the flow, then collect my dough
Face painted like a ghost, they accept it tho
I get love in the west, but still rep my coast
I feel eyes watching, so I take precaution Step like a G politicking with bosses
I don't ask permission, I don't wait for nothing
I just roll my dice and take my wins and losses
Cats doing whore shit for fame and fortune
Then cry like a bitch when nobody talking
So I'm feeling home alone like Macaulay Culkin
If you really trynna chill step inside my office
[Chorus]
I be on my chill shit
Yeah, I mean that chill shit
Take another drink another smoke so I don't feel shit
Baby, it's on
Take another drag and let it fly away
Baby, it's on
And I'ma take another drag and let it fly away
I be on my chill shit
Yeah, I mean that chill shit
Take another drink another smoke so I don't feel shit
Baby, it's on
Take another drink unless you tell me so
Baby, it's on
And I'ma take another drink unless you tell me so
[Bridge]
I be on my chill shit
Yeah, I mean that chill shit
Take another drink another smoke so I don't feel shit
Baby, it's on
Take another drag and let it fly away
Baby, it's on
And I'ma take another drag and let it fly away
[Verse 2]
I be on that gangsta lean, that slow motion
Drink strong and that smoke potent
First at the bar when the doors open and the last one left when the show's over
Vibing with a chick say she feeling my swag
Now we headed to the pad with a couple of mags
And some OG kush, just a couple of drags
And do it all again tomorrow, still chasing this cash
I got a buzz now and they can't stop it
Call me the pastor, I'm raising profits
Money off the radar and major shopping Lemme see you mother fucking haters stop it
Dawg, I'm on a roll, I have a blast tonight
Cause I don't really wanna whip nobody's ass tonight
Just drink some, smoke a lil gas tonight
Live it up like this is ya last tonight
[Chorus]
I be on my chill shit
Yeah, I mean that chill shit
Take another drink another smoke so I don't feel shit
Baby, it's on
Take another drag and let it fly away
Baby, it's on
And I'ma take another drag and let it fly away
I be on my chill shit
Yeah, I mean that chill shit
Take another drink another smoke so I don't feel shit
Baby, it's on
Take another drink unless you tell me so
Baby, it's on
And I'ma take another drink unless you tell me so
[Outro]
Let's go
Take another drink unless you tell me so
And I'm gon' take another smoke unless you tell me so
And I'm gon' keep getting this money till you tell me so
And I'm gon' keep fucking these bitches till you tell me so
And I'm gon' keep smoking up until you tell me so
And I'm gon' keep living this life until you tell me so
And I'm gon' take another drag and let it fly away
And I'm gon' take another drag and let it fly away
Wassup
I was going to have a couple of non-Flickr daze....but, just to round off the photo I posted yesterday of the train at Rosewood, here is a telephoto shot of the coal train that was hiding out beyond the station waiting to follow the electric set back to Ipswich and down to the Port of Brisbane.
It’s a hot and smoky day, and the bushfires which have plagued Australia this summer had already started in Queensland.
There are a number of open cut coal mines on the Darling Downs west of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, either adjacent or near to the railway that runs into the far west of the state to Quilpie. The nearest is at Jondaryan and the furtherest away near Miles. Aurizon (formerly Queensland Railways) is the only operator of coal trains to these mines and runs trains of aluminium ex. grain bottom dump wagons totally I would guess up to 4000 tonnes (not big by Queensland standards) across the flat Downs and then down the difficult single track range railway (Harlaxton, Toowoomba at the top of the range is probably about 720 metres high and a climb of about 33 kilometres) with yet another climb closer to the coast over the lower Little Liverpool Range.
Once in Ipswich, the coal trains have to wend their way round a few Brisbane suburban lines down to the port. There is a fair bit of politicking behind a scheme to build a by-pass line which is not only more direct but avoids the built up suburbs. Sooner or later, if it gets built it will not only face the issue of falling coal exports, mine closures but more people living nearby. Even when they come knowing the line is there already, a lot of people quickly become NIMBY’s....Not in My Back Yards and start to complain.
The locomotives are ex. Queensland Railways GM powered 2300 class assigned in pairs. The 2300 class were conversions/upgrades from the 1550, 2400, 2450 and 2470 class. Some were later sent to Aurizon’s Western Australia operations where they became the DFZ class while at least two others have recently undergone further major conversions to lighter 2700 class locos. More were to be done but this may not occur owing to a reduction in coal and other traffic. Time will tell. Others have been laid aside and stored for the same reason. Some 2300’s still belong to Queensland Rail which is still owned by the state and operates all passenger rail services in Queensland, some public funded/subsidised freight and cattle trains (hauled by Aurizon locos which was the freight side of QR sold off to become a public company) and which owns and maintains the network with the exception of many of the central Queensland coal lines which are owned by Aurizon. This vertical integration in a world of ring fencing and privatisation doesn’t exactly fit the model and is still frowned upon by the Federal government and the Margaret Thatcher purists!
You can read more about the 2300 class here if you so desire.
Big Women exhibition at Colchester Firstsite
I see BIG WOMEN as both an endorsement and a celebration of women’s achievement in the creative field. It aspires to be thought provoking, funny, serious, attractive and fun. God knows we need it in these times dominated by male aggression, politicking, greed, war and pig-headedness.” – Sarah Lucas
I spent the afternoon today photowalking around the most hardcore parts of the Tenderloin (Turk, Eddy, Larkin, Leavenworth, Jones) in San Francisco with San Francisco mayoral candidate
Daniel Lurie.
Lurie is running against incumbent San Francisco Mayor
London Breed and Supervisor Ahsha Safai for next year's mayoral election and is positioned as an outsider reformer who is looking to clean up San Francisco and help bring us back to our glory days.
I knew Daniel a little from X and also from @bettersoma mentioning him to me once, but didn't really know much about his positions or his philosophy for cleaning up our beloved city beyond that.
After spending some one on one time with him today I came away feeling optimistic that we may have a potential mayor who is committed to cleaning up our city and for responsibly dealing with our fentanyl crisis -- which I view as the number one problem in San Francisco today.
I met Daniel as he was leaving a luncheon event for the
Salvation Army at the Hibernia Bank Building and was impressed that it was just him and I and that there were no PR flaks or security personnel. I was also impressed when he didn't hesitate when I suggested we walk the Tenderloin, a place you rarely see politicians willing to go without security.
As we walked through San Francisco's most bleakest neighborhood, walking past drug deals, addicts openly using and bodies hunched over or passed out on the sidewalk we shared our concerns about both what has happened to our city as well as the plight and suffering that was everywhere around us.
I asked my own pointed questions. "Would you support mandating care for these people," pointing to the bodies on the sidewalk. "Yes he said.
He talked about re-empowering the San Francisco police department to deal with the drug epidemic. He talked about our need for more recovery beds, mandated recovery beds, and that we stop handing out needles and tinfoil enabling our addicts. While we might never truly eradicate all drug use in San Francisco, certainly we could clean up the vast majority of it.
My own message was clear. Our number one problem in San Francisco today is drugs. Fix that and you fix San Francisco. Again and again he agreed with me and while it's easy to cynically chalk his agreement up to a politician politicking, I did feel like he was in fact very sincere and committed to cleaning up our city.
We talked about the current Mayor London Breed. Breed has said a lot of the right things, especially more recently, but in my opinion her words have often not come with action. Looking around at the chaos and drug addiction around us, after almost four years it's certainly as bad and probably worse than it's ever been.
It was a good walk today. Perhaps the most hopeful I've felt about San Francisco's future in a while. Lurie's going to have a long year ahead of him as he runs what will undoubtedly be a rough and tumble fight for control of our city, but he is a contender and the one I'm most inclined to support after our walk today. I'm in it to win it he said.
We did touch on all the good things that we both have experienced in San Francisco as well. The great restaurants, cultural institutions, arts, events and people that make San Francisco great. All four of my kids were born at Cal Pacific in San Francisco, so were his two.
I'm sure I won't agree with Daniel on everything. I'm still a progressive he reminded me, just not THAT kind of progressive.
I'm more of a centrist myself, but I think we both agreed that left, center or right, the number one thing we need to fix about San Francisco right now is the drugs. That's not a partisan issue really, in my opinion, it's a human issue, a compassion issue. Instead of letting our addicts die out on our city streets or in our SROs, we need to aggressively deal with this problem as the number one problem facing San Francisco today.
I hope to get to know Daniel better as his campaign unfolds, but for now I consider myself both a supporter and a friend.
Tumut. The town nestles along the Tumut River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee which it joins in Gundagai. It begins about 40 kms from Mt Kosciusko in Kosciusko National Park and it has three dam/reservoirs along it as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydroelectric power generation system. Tumut has over 800 mm of rain yearly. Hamilton Hume discovered the Tumut River in 1824 and the first white squatter Benjamin Warby arrived in 1828 at Darbalara although he and the ones who followed him only became licensed leaseholders from 1839. They included George and William Shelley of Been (Tumut Plains) station. Shelley senior was a missionary and they are credited with making sure there were no Aboriginal deaths or massacres near Tumut. More settles arrived in the 1840s when land leasing was legal. A courthouse was established in 1845. The town was laid out in 1848 and a police constable was appointed. But by 1856 few buildings were more than mere slab huts. The first Post Office in 1849 operated from the Courthouse. Like Gundagai the original town site moved up the hill after the 1852 Tumut River floods. In 1860 thousands passed through the small town on their way to the goldfields at Kiandra (1859) in the Snowy Mountains and later to Adelong on the plains. Tumut emerged as a solid town. With gold came bushrangers and Ned Kelly’s brother operated in this district in the 1870s. By 1866 there were eleven hotels in the town and the town population was around 400; in 1887 Tumut became a municipality; and in 1903 the branch railway line from Gundagai reached the town. Dairying and forestry became major district industries in the 20th century and the Tumut River became a major site for hydroelectric power. Blowering Dam was built just above the town with Tumut 1, 2 and 3 power stations on the Tumut River. In autumn the Lombardy Poplars along the Tumut River display great colour. They were planted in 1861. More autumn colour can be found in the Avenue of Elms which leads to the racecourse, thus it is not surprising that Tumut established the Festival of the Falling Leaf in the 1950s. Tumut was one of the many sites considered for the National Capital by a Royal Commission but Canberra was finally selected for that. Tumut was selected by the House of Representatives in 1904 but then replaced by Bombala and then the Senate replaced it with Dalgety. But the NSW parliament refused to cede land around Dalgety so four years later after much politicking a site near Yass was finally approved. All places considered had to have good flat land, a good water supply and be further than 100 miles from Sydney.
he obviously follows the "socks matching the pants" fashion rule.........
.....and being the acrobatic man in the street that he is, it's probably a good thing.
Tumut. The town nestles along the Tumut River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee which it joins in Gundagai. It begins about 40 kms from Mt Kosciusko in Kosciusko National Park and it has three dam/reservoirs along it as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydroelectric power generation system. Tumut has over 800 mm of rain yearly. Hamilton Hume discovered the Tumut River in 1824 and the first white squatter Benjamin Warby arrived in 1828 at Darbalara although he and the ones who followed him only became licensed leaseholders from 1839. They included George and William Shelley of Been (Tumut Plains) station. Shelley senior was a missionary and they are credited with making sure there were no Aboriginal deaths or massacres near Tumut. More settles arrived in the 1840s when land leasing was legal. A courthouse was established in 1845. The town was laid out in 1848 and a police constable was appointed. But by 1856 few buildings were more than mere slab huts. The first Post Office in 1849 operated from the Courthouse. Like Gundagai the original town site moved up the hill after the 1852 Tumut River floods. In 1860 thousands passed through the small town on their way to the goldfields at Kiandra (1859) in the Snowy Mountains and later to Adelong on the plains. Tumut emerged as a solid town. With gold came bushrangers and Ned Kelly’s brother operated in this district in the 1870s. By 1866 there were eleven hotels in the town and the town population was around 400; in 1887 Tumut became a municipality; and in 1903 the branch railway line from Gundagai reached the town. Dairying and forestry became major district industries in the 20th century and the Tumut River became a major site for hydroelectric power. Blowering Dam was built just above the town with Tumut 1, 2 and 3 power stations on the Tumut River. In autumn the Lombardy Poplars along the Tumut River display great colour. They were planted in 1861. More autumn colour can be found in the Avenue of Elms which leads to the racecourse, thus it is not surprising that Tumut established the Festival of the Falling Leaf in the 1950s. Tumut was one of the many sites considered for the National Capital by a Royal Commission but Canberra was finally selected for that. Tumut was selected by the House of Representatives in 1904 but then replaced by Bombala and then the Senate replaced it with Dalgety. But the NSW parliament refused to cede land around Dalgety so four years later after much politicking a site near Yass was finally approved. All places considered had to have good flat land, a good water supply and be further than 100 miles from Sydney.
The town’s historic buildings include:
1. On the way into town from Gundagai is the Old Tumut Butter Factory. It was established in 1902 and is now the Information Centre. Opposite it is the Broom Factory. It was established in 1946 by the Tumut Cooperative Millet Society. It went into private ownership in 1978 and still makes by hand traditional millet brooms. In the 1920s Tumut had 120 millet producers. Today it has just three. It is the only broom factory left in Australia.
2. Next on left is the Catholic Church. The first red brick church built in 1859 is used by the Catholic School as a hall. The fine blue granite church opened in 1878. It is known for its Rusconi marble altar and German stained glass windows. The nuns opened the present Catholic School in 1883 and their convent was finished in 1886.
3. At the roundabout turn right to the Presbyterian Church. The first Presbyterian was built in 1856 elsewhere. This current Uniting Church was built in 1878 as the Presbyterian Church.
4. In the Main St. before the second roundabout is the School of Arts. Built in 1891. It has a beautiful classical style façade with good symmetry.
5. Next to it is the Bank of NSW now Westpac. A classical colonnaded building of 1891 with Ionic columns.
6. Diagonally from it is the Commercial Bank of Sydney with fluted iron columns and French windows in the upstairs residence. Now a NAB Bank. Built in 1889 by Mansfield brothers architects.
7. Right is the Royal Hotel. The upper French windows date it to about 1860 when the Kiandra gold rush began. It was formerly known as the Rising Moon Hotel.
8. The Oriental Hotel. Built in 1876 replacing an earlier 1850 hotel. It has fine cast iron lacework on the balcony.
9. On the opposite corner is the Courthouse. Architect was James Barnet. Built in 1878. The stables were erected in 1879 and the police station completed in 1874. Beside the Police Station is the Tumut Official Residence built in 1896 in Queen Anne Federation style with rounded window, gable, veranda with wooden posts etc.
10. Worte’s cottage. Polychromatic red brick with yellow brick quoins. Decorative fretwork on barge boards. Pretty bay window. Street facing gable. Built around 1890.
11. Further down the street at next intersection is the Anglican Church. A church barn was built in 1857 and this grand church was designed by architect Edmund Blacket who designed the Carcoar Church, the University of Sydney quadrangle etc. It was started in 1875 and completed in 1878. Note the dark brick work patterns beneath the quadruple façade windows. Tower completed in 1881. Have a look inside too.
Tumut. The town nestles along the Tumut River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee which it joins in Gundagai. It begins about 40 kms from Mt Kosciusko in Kosciusko National Park and it has three dam/reservoirs along it as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydroelectric power generation system. Tumut has over 800 mm of rain yearly. Hamilton Hume discovered the Tumut River in 1824 and the first white squatter Benjamin Warby arrived in 1828 at Darbalara although he and the ones who followed him only became licensed leaseholders from 1839. They included George and William Shelley of Been (Tumut Plains) station. Shelley senior was a missionary and they are credited with making sure there were no Aboriginal deaths or massacres near Tumut. More settles arrived in the 1840s when land leasing was legal. A courthouse was established in 1845. The town was laid out in 1848 and a police constable was appointed. But by 1856 few buildings were more than mere slab huts. The first Post Office in 1849 operated from the Courthouse. Like Gundagai the original town site moved up the hill after the 1852 Tumut River floods. In 1860 thousands passed through the small town on their way to the goldfields at Kiandra (1859) in the Snowy Mountains and later to Adelong on the plains. Tumut emerged as a solid town. With gold came bushrangers and Ned Kelly’s brother operated in this district in the 1870s. By 1866 there were eleven hotels in the town and the town population was around 400; in 1887 Tumut became a municipality; and in 1903 the branch railway line from Gundagai reached the town. Dairying and forestry became major district industries in the 20th century and the Tumut River became a major site for hydroelectric power. Blowering Dam was built just above the town with Tumut 1, 2 and 3 power stations on the Tumut River. In autumn the Lombardy Poplars along the Tumut River display great colour. They were planted in 1861. More autumn colour can be found in the Avenue of Elms which leads to the racecourse, thus it is not surprising that Tumut established the Festival of the Falling Leaf in the 1950s. Tumut was one of the many sites considered for the National Capital by a Royal Commission but Canberra was finally selected for that. Tumut was selected by the House of Representatives in 1904 but then replaced by Bombala and then the Senate replaced it with Dalgety. But the NSW parliament refused to cede land around Dalgety so four years later after much politicking a site near Yass was finally approved. All places considered had to have good flat land, a good water supply and be further than 100 miles from Sydney.
Worte’s cottage. Polychromatic red brick with yellow brick quoins. Decorative fretwork on barge boards. Pretty bay window. Street facing gable. Built around 1890.
Tumut. The town nestles along the Tumut River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee which it joins in Gundagai. It begins about 40 kms from Mt Kosciusko in Kosciusko National Park and it has three dam/reservoirs along it as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydroelectric power generation system. Tumut has over 800 mm of rain yearly. Hamilton Hume discovered the Tumut River in 1824 and the first white squatter Benjamin Warby arrived in 1828 at Darbalara although he and the ones who followed him only became licensed leaseholders from 1839. They included George and William Shelley of Been (Tumut Plains) station. Shelley senior was a missionary and they are credited with making sure there were no Aboriginal deaths or massacres near Tumut. More settles arrived in the 1840s when land leasing was legal. A courthouse was established in 1845. The town was laid out in 1848 and a police constable was appointed. But by 1856 few buildings were more than mere slab huts. The first Post Office in 1849 operated from the Courthouse. Like Gundagai the original town site moved up the hill after the 1852 Tumut River floods. In 1860 thousands passed through the small town on their way to the goldfields at Kiandra (1859) in the Snowy Mountains and later to Adelong on the plains. Tumut emerged as a solid town. With gold came bushrangers and Ned Kelly’s brother operated in this district in the 1870s. By 1866 there were eleven hotels in the town and the town population was around 400; in 1887 Tumut became a municipality; and in 1903 the branch railway line from Gundagai reached the town. Dairying and forestry became major district industries in the 20th century and the Tumut River became a major site for hydroelectric power. Blowering Dam was built just above the town with Tumut 1, 2 and 3 power stations on the Tumut River. In autumn the Lombardy Poplars along the Tumut River display great colour. They were planted in 1861. More autumn colour can be found in the Avenue of Elms which leads to the racecourse, thus it is not surprising that Tumut established the Festival of the Falling Leaf in the 1950s. Tumut was one of the many sites considered for the National Capital by a Royal Commission but Canberra was finally selected for that. Tumut was selected by the House of Representatives in 1904 but then replaced by Bombala and then the Senate replaced it with Dalgety. But the NSW parliament refused to cede land around Dalgety so four years later after much politicking a site near Yass was finally approved. All places considered had to have good flat land, a good water supply and be further than 100 miles from Sydney.
The town’s historic buildings include:
1. On the way into town from Gundagai is the Old Tumut Butter Factory. It was established in 1902 and is now the Information Centre. Opposite it is the Broom Factory. It was established in 1946 by the Tumut Cooperative Millet Society. It went into private ownership in 1978 and still makes by hand traditional millet brooms. In the 1920s Tumut had 120 millet producers. Today it has just three. It is the only broom factory left in Australia.
2. Next on left is the Catholic Church. The first red brick church built in 1859 is used by the Catholic School as a hall. The fine blue granite church opened in 1878. It is known for its Rusconi marble altar and German stained glass windows. The nuns opened the present Catholic School in 1883 and their convent was finished in 1886.
3. At the roundabout turn right to the Presbyterian Church. The first Presbyterian was built in 1856 elsewhere. This current Uniting Church was built in 1878 as the Presbyterian Church.
4. In the Main St. before the second roundabout is the School of Arts. Built in 1891. It has a beautiful classical style façade with good symmetry.
5. Next to it is the Bank of NSW now Westpac. A classical colonnaded building of 1891 with Ionic columns.
6. Diagonally from it is the Commercial Bank of Sydney with fluted iron columns and French windows in the upstairs residence. Now a NAB Bank. Built in 1889 by Mansfield brothers architects.
7. Right is the Royal Hotel. The upper French windows date it to about 1860 when the Kiandra gold rush began. It was formerly known as the Rising Moon Hotel.
8. The Oriental Hotel. Built in 1876 replacing an earlier 1850 hotel. It has fine cast iron lacework on the balcony.
9. On the opposite corner is the Courthouse. Architect was James Barnet. Built in 1878. The stables were erected in 1879 and the police station completed in 1874. Beside the Police Station is the Tumut Official Residence built in 1896 in Queen Anne Federation style with rounded window, gable, veranda with wooden posts etc.
10. Worte’s cottage. Polychromatic red brick with yellow brick quoins. Decorative fretwork on barge boards. Pretty bay window. Street facing gable. Built around 1890.
11. Further down the street at next intersection is the Anglican Church. A church barn was built in 1857 and this grand church was designed by architect Edmund Blacket who designed the Carcoar Church, the University of Sydney quadrangle etc. It was started in 1875 and completed in 1878. Note the dark brick work patterns beneath the quadruple façade windows. Tower completed in 1881. Have a look inside too.
The allure of Pacific adventure - and another sad reminder of the fickle airline fortunes on the Balkans. Today already part of the landscape of Skopje Airport (SKP/LWSK), Z3-AAM had been the only aircraft of MAT Airways, formed in 2009 by Kon Tiki Travel - one of neighboring Serbia's biggest tour operators. Intended to both bring foreign tourists into Macedonia and create something of a national airline serving key cities abroad (a field where many had failed previously), the company had never managed to reach profitability in its two years of existence, in some parts due to local politicking, in others due to a lack of experience - but mostly because a simple lack of demand abroad, financially capable travelers among the small 2.1 million population at home, and constant competition from foreign airlines. Exacerbated by the imminent need to change the number 2 engine due to its dwindling service life - and pressure from foreign banks and investment funds that had financed the aircraft - the company had declared bankruptcy in 2011, bringing to an end another chapter in post-Yugoslav air transport history.
Z3-AAM itself - manufactured in 1991 for the equally extinct Sabena - had thus ended up parked in front of Skopje's disused old terminal. Previously known as Z3-AAH (also with MAT), this machine doesn't have the rich history of other 737 Classics, having mostly been handed down from one investment fund to another following its departure from Belgian service. However, as a type, the 500 series was always something of an oddball in the 737 line, a shrunk 737-400 intended to appeal to operators of the equally-sized 737-200. Small and light - but sporting the same wing, engines and fuel capacity of the much larger 400 - the 500 was always a stellar performer in both climb and range, characteristics that had eventually led to its demise. Like today's A318, the 500 was always too heavy for its passenger capacity (its structure being optimized for a larger aircraft), making it more expensive to operate. This had come to a head when fuel prices picked up by the mid 2000s, forcing many operators to ditch them en masse. Interestingly, their large numbers and low prices on the used market had attracted a lot of interest from the CIS, where operators scooped them up in handfuls to replace their aging and similarly-sized Tupolev Tu-134s. Indeed, if you want to see a 500 without waiting too long, Russia is the place to go!
Tumut. Bridging the Tumut River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee which it joins in Gundagai, this pretty foothills town nestles as the base of Kosciusko National Park. The Tumut River rises about 40 kms from Mt Kosciusko and it has three dam/reservoirs along it as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydroelectric power generation system. Whilst Tumut has over 800 mm of rain yearly. Hamilton Hume discovered the Tumut River in 1824 and the first white squatter Benjamin Warby arrived in 1828 at Darbalara although he and the ones who followed him only became licensed leaseholders from 1839. They included George and William Shelley of Been (Tumut Plains) station. Shelley senior was a missionary and they are credited with making sure there were no Aboriginal deaths or massacres near Tumut. More settles arrived in the 1840s when land leasing was legal. A courthouse was established in 1845. The town was laid out in 1848 and a police constable was appointed. But by 1856 few buildings were more than mere slab huts. The first Post Office in 1849 operated from the Courthouse. Like Gundagai the original town site moved up the hill after the 1852 Tumut River floods. In 1860 thousands passed through the small town on their way to the goldfields at Kiandra (1859) in the Snowy Mountains and later to Adelong on the plains. Tumut emerged as a solid town. With gold came bushrangers and Ned Kelly’s brother operated in this district in the 1870s. By 1866 there were eleven hotels in the town and the town population was around 400; in 1887 Tumut became a municipality; and in 1903 the branch railway line from Gundagai reached the town. Dairying and forestry became major district industries in the 20th century and the Tumut River became a major site for hydroelectric power stations during the construction of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. Blowering Dam was built just above the town. Tumut 1, 2 and 3 power stations were also built on the Tumut River. In autumn the Lombardy Poplars along the Tumut River display great colour. They were planted in 1861. More autumn colour can be found in the Avenue of Elms which leads to the racecourse, thus it is not surprising that Tumut established the Festival of the Falling Leaf in the 1950s. Tumut was one of the many sites considered for the National Capital but Canberra was finally selected for that. A Royal Commission looked at Tumut’s suitability as the national capital. Tumut was selected by the House of Representatives in 1904 but then replaced by Bombala and then the Senate replaced it with Dalgety. But the NSW parliament refused to cede land around Dalgety so four years later after much politicking a site near Yass was finally approved. Like all places considered it had to have good flat land, a good water supply and be further than 100 miles from Sydney but still in NSW.
Tumut. The town nestles along the Tumut River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee which it joins in Gundagai. It begins about 40 kms from Mt Kosciusko in Kosciusko National Park and it has three dam/reservoirs along it as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydroelectric power generation system. Tumut has over 800 mm of rain yearly. Hamilton Hume discovered the Tumut River in 1824 and the first white squatter Benjamin Warby arrived in 1828 at Darbalara although he and the ones who followed him only became licensed leaseholders from 1839. They included George and William Shelley of Been (Tumut Plains) station. Shelley senior was a missionary and they are credited with making sure there were no Aboriginal deaths or massacres near Tumut. More settles arrived in the 1840s when land leasing was legal. A courthouse was established in 1845. The town was laid out in 1848 and a police constable was appointed. But by 1856 few buildings were more than mere slab huts. The first Post Office in 1849 operated from the Courthouse. Like Gundagai the original town site moved up the hill after the 1852 Tumut River floods. In 1860 thousands passed through the small town on their way to the goldfields at Kiandra (1859) in the Snowy Mountains and later to Adelong on the plains. Tumut emerged as a solid town. With gold came bushrangers and Ned Kelly’s brother operated in this district in the 1870s. By 1866 there were eleven hotels in the town and the town population was around 400; in 1887 Tumut became a municipality; and in 1903 the branch railway line from Gundagai reached the town. Dairying and forestry became major district industries in the 20th century and the Tumut River became a major site for hydroelectric power. Blowering Dam was built just above the town with Tumut 1, 2 and 3 power stations on the Tumut River. In autumn the Lombardy Poplars along the Tumut River display great colour. They were planted in 1861. More autumn colour can be found in the Avenue of Elms which leads to the racecourse, thus it is not surprising that Tumut established the Festival of the Falling Leaf in the 1950s. Tumut was one of the many sites considered for the National Capital by a Royal Commission but Canberra was finally selected for that. Tumut was selected by the House of Representatives in 1904 but then replaced by Bombala and then the Senate replaced it with Dalgety. But the NSW parliament refused to cede land around Dalgety so four years later after much politicking a site near Yass was finally approved. All places considered had to have good flat land, a good water supply and be further than 100 miles from Sydney.
the Anglican Church. A church barn was built in 1857 and this grand church was designed by architect Edmund Blacket who designed the Carcoar Church, the University of Sydney quadrangle etc. It was started in 1875 and completed in 1878. Note the dark brick work patterns beneath the quadruple façade windows. Tower completed in 1881. Have a look inside too.
Tumut. The town nestles along the Tumut River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee which it joins in Gundagai. It begins about 40 kms from Mt Kosciusko in Kosciusko National Park and it has three dam/reservoirs along it as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydroelectric power generation system. Tumut has over 800 mm of rain yearly. Hamilton Hume discovered the Tumut River in 1824 and the first white squatter Benjamin Warby arrived in 1828 at Darbalara although he and the ones who followed him only became licensed leaseholders from 1839. They included George and William Shelley of Been (Tumut Plains) station. Shelley senior was a missionary and they are credited with making sure there were no Aboriginal deaths or massacres near Tumut. More settles arrived in the 1840s when land leasing was legal. A courthouse was established in 1845. The town was laid out in 1848 and a police constable was appointed. But by 1856 few buildings were more than mere slab huts. The first Post Office in 1849 operated from the Courthouse. Like Gundagai the original town site moved up the hill after the 1852 Tumut River floods. In 1860 thousands passed through the small town on their way to the goldfields at Kiandra (1859) in the Snowy Mountains and later to Adelong on the plains. Tumut emerged as a solid town. With gold came bushrangers and Ned Kelly’s brother operated in this district in the 1870s. By 1866 there were eleven hotels in the town and the town population was around 400; in 1887 Tumut became a municipality; and in 1903 the branch railway line from Gundagai reached the town. Dairying and forestry became major district industries in the 20th century and the Tumut River became a major site for hydroelectric power. Blowering Dam was built just above the town with Tumut 1, 2 and 3 power stations on the Tumut River. In autumn the Lombardy Poplars along the Tumut River display great colour. They were planted in 1861. More autumn colour can be found in the Avenue of Elms which leads to the racecourse, thus it is not surprising that Tumut established the Festival of the Falling Leaf in the 1950s. Tumut was one of the many sites considered for the National Capital by a Royal Commission but Canberra was finally selected for that. Tumut was selected by the House of Representatives in 1904 but then replaced by Bombala and then the Senate replaced it with Dalgety. But the NSW parliament refused to cede land around Dalgety so four years later after much politicking a site near Yass was finally approved. All places considered had to have good flat land, a good water supply and be further than 100 miles from Sydney.
The town’s historic buildings include:
1. On the way into town from Gundagai is the Old Tumut Butter Factory. It was established in 1902 and is now the Information Centre. Opposite it is the Broom Factory. It was established in 1946 by the Tumut Cooperative Millet Society. It went into private ownership in 1978 and still makes by hand traditional millet brooms. In the 1920s Tumut had 120 millet producers. Today it has just three. It is the only broom factory left in Australia.
2. Next on left is the Catholic Church. The first red brick church built in 1859 is used by the Catholic School as a hall. The fine blue granite church opened in 1878. It is known for its Rusconi marble altar and German stained glass windows. The nuns opened the present Catholic School in 1883 and their convent was finished in 1886.
3. At the roundabout turn right to the Presbyterian Church. The first Presbyterian was built in 1856 elsewhere. This current Uniting Church was built in 1878 as the Presbyterian Church.
4. In the Main St. before the second roundabout is the School of Arts. Built in 1891. It has a beautiful classical style façade with good symmetry.
5. Next to it is the Bank of NSW now Westpac. A classical colonnaded building of 1891 with Ionic columns.
6. Diagonally from it is the Commercial Bank of Sydney with fluted iron columns and French windows in the upstairs residence. Now a NAB Bank. Built in 1889 by Mansfield brothers architects.
7. Right is the Royal Hotel. The upper French windows date it to about 1860 when the Kiandra gold rush began. It was formerly known as the Rising Moon Hotel.
8. The Oriental Hotel. Built in 1876 replacing an earlier 1850 hotel. It has fine cast iron lacework on the balcony.
9. On the opposite corner is the Courthouse. Architect was James Barnet. Built in 1878. The stables were erected in 1879 and the police station completed in 1874. Beside the Police Station is the Tumut Official Residence built in 1896 in Queen Anne Federation style with rounded window, gable, veranda with wooden posts etc.
10. Worte’s cottage. Polychromatic red brick with yellow brick quoins. Decorative fretwork on barge boards. Pretty bay window. Street facing gable. Built around 1890.
11. Further down the street at next intersection is the Anglican Church. A church barn was built in 1857 and this grand church was designed by architect Edmund Blacket who designed the Carcoar Church, the University of Sydney quadrangle etc. It was started in 1875 and completed in 1878. Note the dark brick work patterns beneath the quadruple façade windows. Tower completed in 1881. Have a look inside too.
Picked Up A Gun, A “Soldering Gun”, After 40 Years! - IMRAN™
It’s hard to believe that I hadn’t touched a soldering gun in four whole decades! Even before joining the University of Engineering and Technology in 1980, graduating around the end of 1984, I had fallen in love with electronics.
I had too many other parallel interests to be one of those uber-geeks who are always building circuit boards. But, I did have the essentials of a hobbyist’s kit at my blessed home in Lahore.
The most “elaborate” thing I ever designed (and barely got to work) was a one-foot long circuit board with two rows of LEDs to act as stereo music audio level indicators.
Back then the coolest music decks, from then-awesome now defunct or reborn bands like my favorites Nakamichi and Sansui, as well as Onkyo, Akai, and others, were the ones laden with rows of knobs or sliders and controllers with the dazzling arrays of LEDs. Audio in and out levels, spectrum analyzers and graphic equalizers… you name it, they had it.
While I was able to get the LEDs to work as audio level meters, I never got to add on spectrum analyzer components,and real life started.
Finishing my electronics engineering exams for 2.5 years worth of time in 1 final year was an adventure too. I had to make up for courses I had attended but skipped taking exams for. That was because of my youthful & foolish dedication to being a student leader.
I was Chief Organizer of the QSF (Quade-Azam Students Federation), then Pakistan’s largest independent organization not directly belonging to any particular political party. Then the dead-dog roasted-pig military dictator General Zia banned students unions.
Just like that, all the time invested in preparing for students union elections was gone. But the life lessons, of how two-faced people can be, what actual door to door politicking is, and more, served me throughout life.
So, there I was, in 19844. Suddenly the end of the four years university era was also coming to an end. Vying to be the nominee of my party for the suddenly-banned elections became as low a priority as building circuit boards.
Fortunately, I was able to complete my Electrical Engineering (Electronics/Digital Systems) degree thanks to many great friends who shared their notes. I am forever grateful also to the even more wonderful teachers and professors. Late Masood, Suhail, Pervez, Saeed Cheema (also a childhood family friend), and others.
They were all very kind in helping me take the missed exams in rapid succession. Everyone was amazing.
Well, except, as expected, one slimy scumbag mullah professor of required so-called Islamic Studies. It was a course that the CIA-funded creator of fundamentalists in Pakistan, General Zia, had shoved even into professional degrees. That Maulvi teacher was an active member of the fundamentalist and violent Jamate-Islami, the party that the liberated, freedom & democracy loving, QSF was the nemesis of. Eventually, like the tail being stuck after the whole elephant has passed through, I passed his vendetta-driven exams that had 0.0% to do with either engineering, or frankly, even the true spirit of Islam.
Anyway, as I was finishing my engineering degree, the legendary Asian media tycoon Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman, then Deputy CEO and now Chairman of Jang Group, invited me to join his organization. That led to another incredible series of chapters and adventures of my life, which I will leave for another day.
While I helped him choose and acquire literally tens of millions of dollars worth of electronics and computers based latest & greatest publishing and printing systems, my own dabbling in electronics directly fell by the wayside. Until, today.
Recently I decided to fix a $50 fixture just for the heck of it instead of just throwing it away. I ordered a very basic soldering iron online - even this primitive one but equipped with a temperature control and actual switch is fancier than what I had in Lahore, Pakistan.
The solder wire they shipped was so thin I almost gave up on the project. But, I decided to do it for four decades worth of memories, and got the thing working again.
There…. who else would turn a simple photo of having picked up a soldering gun, actually a soldering iron in this case, into a chapter from my autobiography also covering music, branding, gadgetry, engineering, politics, history, religion, and gratitude…. Thank you for loving my stories.
© 2024 IMRAN™
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Tumut. The town nestles along the Tumut River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee which it joins in Gundagai. It begins about 40 kms from Mt Kosciusko in Kosciusko National Park and it has three dam/reservoirs along it as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydroelectric power generation system. Tumut has over 800 mm of rain yearly. Hamilton Hume discovered the Tumut River in 1824 and the first white squatter Benjamin Warby arrived in 1828 at Darbalara although he and the ones who followed him only became licensed leaseholders from 1839. They included George and William Shelley of Been (Tumut Plains) station. Shelley senior was a missionary and they are credited with making sure there were no Aboriginal deaths or massacres near Tumut. More settles arrived in the 1840s when land leasing was legal. A courthouse was established in 1845. The town was laid out in 1848 and a police constable was appointed. But by 1856 few buildings were more than mere slab huts. The first Post Office in 1849 operated from the Courthouse. Like Gundagai the original town site moved up the hill after the 1852 Tumut River floods. In 1860 thousands passed through the small town on their way to the goldfields at Kiandra (1859) in the Snowy Mountains and later to Adelong on the plains. Tumut emerged as a solid town. With gold came bushrangers and Ned Kelly’s brother operated in this district in the 1870s. By 1866 there were eleven hotels in the town and the town population was around 400; in 1887 Tumut became a municipality; and in 1903 the branch railway line from Gundagai reached the town. Dairying and forestry became major district industries in the 20th century and the Tumut River became a major site for hydroelectric power. Blowering Dam was built just above the town with Tumut 1, 2 and 3 power stations on the Tumut River. In autumn the Lombardy Poplars along the Tumut River display great colour. They were planted in 1861. More autumn colour can be found in the Avenue of Elms which leads to the racecourse, thus it is not surprising that Tumut established the Festival of the Falling Leaf in the 1950s. Tumut was one of the many sites considered for the National Capital by a Royal Commission but Canberra was finally selected for that. Tumut was selected by the House of Representatives in 1904 but then replaced by Bombala and then the Senate replaced it with Dalgety. But the NSW parliament refused to cede land around Dalgety so four years later after much politicking a site near Yass was finally approved. All places considered had to have good flat land, a good water supply and be further than 100 miles from Sydney.
Tumut. The town nestles along the Tumut River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee which it joins in Gundagai. It begins about 40 kms from Mt Kosciusko in Kosciusko National Park and it has three dam/reservoirs along it as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydroelectric power generation system. Tumut has over 800 mm of rain yearly. Hamilton Hume discovered the Tumut River in 1824 and the first white squatter Benjamin Warby arrived in 1828 at Darbalara although he and the ones who followed him only became licensed leaseholders from 1839. They included George and William Shelley of Been (Tumut Plains) station. Shelley senior was a missionary and they are credited with making sure there were no Aboriginal deaths or massacres near Tumut. More settles arrived in the 1840s when land leasing was legal. A courthouse was established in 1845. The town was laid out in 1848 and a police constable was appointed. But by 1856 few buildings were more than mere slab huts. The first Post Office in 1849 operated from the Courthouse. Like Gundagai the original town site moved up the hill after the 1852 Tumut River floods. In 1860 thousands passed through the small town on their way to the goldfields at Kiandra (1859) in the Snowy Mountains and later to Adelong on the plains. Tumut emerged as a solid town. With gold came bushrangers and Ned Kelly’s brother operated in this district in the 1870s. By 1866 there were eleven hotels in the town and the town population was around 400; in 1887 Tumut became a municipality; and in 1903 the branch railway line from Gundagai reached the town. Dairying and forestry became major district industries in the 20th century and the Tumut River became a major site for hydroelectric power. Blowering Dam was built just above the town with Tumut 1, 2 and 3 power stations on the Tumut River. In autumn the Lombardy Poplars along the Tumut River display great colour. They were planted in 1861. More autumn colour can be found in the Avenue of Elms which leads to the racecourse, thus it is not surprising that Tumut established the Festival of the Falling Leaf in the 1950s. Tumut was one of the many sites considered for the National Capital by a Royal Commission but Canberra was finally selected for that. Tumut was selected by the House of Representatives in 1904 but then replaced by Bombala and then the Senate replaced it with Dalgety. But the NSW parliament refused to cede land around Dalgety so four years later after much politicking a site near Yass was finally approved. All places considered had to have good flat land, a good water supply and be further than 100 miles from Sydney.
The town’s historic buildings include:
1. On the way into town from Gundagai is the Old Tumut Butter Factory. It was established in 1902 and is now the Information Centre. Opposite it is the Broom Factory. It was established in 1946 by the Tumut Cooperative Millet Society. It went into private ownership in 1978 and still makes by hand traditional millet brooms. In the 1920s Tumut had 120 millet producers. Today it has just three. It is the only broom factory left in Australia.
2. Next on left is the Catholic Church. The first red brick church built in 1859 is used by the Catholic School as a hall. The fine blue granite church opened in 1878. It is known for its Rusconi marble altar and German stained glass windows. The nuns opened the present Catholic School in 1883 and their convent was finished in 1886.
3. At the roundabout turn right to the Presbyterian Church. The first Presbyterian was built in 1856 elsewhere. This current Uniting Church was built in 1878 as the Presbyterian Church.
4. In the Main St. before the second roundabout is the School of Arts. Built in 1891. It has a beautiful classical style façade with good symmetry.
5. Next to it is the Bank of NSW now Westpac. A classical colonnaded building of 1891 with Ionic columns.
6. Diagonally from it is the Commercial Bank of Sydney with fluted iron columns and French windows in the upstairs residence. Now a NAB Bank. Built in 1889 by Mansfield brothers architects.
7. Right is the Royal Hotel. The upper French windows date it to about 1860 when the Kiandra gold rush began. It was formerly known as the Rising Moon Hotel.
8. The Oriental Hotel. Built in 1876 replacing an earlier 1850 hotel. It has fine cast iron lacework on the balcony.
9. On the opposite corner is the Courthouse. Architect was James Barnet. Built in 1878. The stables were erected in 1879 and the police station completed in 1874. Beside the Police Station is the Tumut Official Residence built in 1896 in Queen Anne Federation style with rounded window, gable, veranda with wooden posts etc.
10. Worte’s cottage. Polychromatic red brick with yellow brick quoins. Decorative fretwork on barge boards. Pretty bay window. Street facing gable. Built around 1890.
11. Further down the street at next intersection is the Anglican Church. A church barn was built in 1857 and this grand church was designed by architect Edmund Blacket who designed the Carcoar Church, the University of Sydney quadrangle etc. It was started in 1875 and completed in 1878. Note the dark brick work patterns beneath the quadruple façade windows. Tower completed in 1881. Have a look inside too.
"Politicians perceive you as weak while the media continues to make you ignorant and turn you against your own so that the elected employees remain safe because in reality they fear you. They fear what your capabilities and power can achieve! They fear their wealth ripped away! They fear lack of control! They fear peace! They fear our maturity in a better society! They fear our awakening!" #abstractpainting #painting #Trump #Hillary #art #painting #contemporaryart #2016election #SothebysContemporary #contemporaryart #NewImageArt #newcontemporary #phxart #curator #urbanArt #Streetart #ArtGallery #BrooklynMuseum #contemporaryCurated #artcollector #FineArt #NewWhitney #subliminalprojects #politicKING #graffiti #dtphx #chelseagallery #juxtapozxsuperflat #Fashion #homeless #rich #powwowworldwide
Tumut. The town nestles along the Tumut River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee which it joins in Gundagai. It begins about 40 kms from Mt Kosciusko in Kosciusko National Park and it has three dam/reservoirs along it as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydroelectric power generation system. Tumut has over 800 mm of rain yearly. Hamilton Hume discovered the Tumut River in 1824 and the first white squatter Benjamin Warby arrived in 1828 at Darbalara although he and the ones who followed him only became licensed leaseholders from 1839. They included George and William Shelley of Been (Tumut Plains) station. Shelley senior was a missionary and they are credited with making sure there were no Aboriginal deaths or massacres near Tumut. More settles arrived in the 1840s when land leasing was legal. A courthouse was established in 1845. The town was laid out in 1848 and a police constable was appointed. But by 1856 few buildings were more than mere slab huts. The first Post Office in 1849 operated from the Courthouse. Like Gundagai the original town site moved up the hill after the 1852 Tumut River floods. In 1860 thousands passed through the small town on their way to the goldfields at Kiandra (1859) in the Snowy Mountains and later to Adelong on the plains. Tumut emerged as a solid town. With gold came bushrangers and Ned Kelly’s brother operated in this district in the 1870s. By 1866 there were eleven hotels in the town and the town population was around 400; in 1887 Tumut became a municipality; and in 1903 the branch railway line from Gundagai reached the town. Dairying and forestry became major district industries in the 20th century and the Tumut River became a major site for hydroelectric power. Blowering Dam was built just above the town with Tumut 1, 2 and 3 power stations on the Tumut River. In autumn the Lombardy Poplars along the Tumut River display great colour. They were planted in 1861. More autumn colour can be found in the Avenue of Elms which leads to the racecourse, thus it is not surprising that Tumut established the Festival of the Falling Leaf in the 1950s. Tumut was one of the many sites considered for the National Capital by a Royal Commission but Canberra was finally selected for that. Tumut was selected by the House of Representatives in 1904 but then replaced by Bombala and then the Senate replaced it with Dalgety. But the NSW parliament refused to cede land around Dalgety so four years later after much politicking a site near Yass was finally approved. All places considered had to have good flat land, a good water supply and be further than 100 miles from Sydney.
The town’s historic buildings include:
1. On the way into town from Gundagai is the Old Tumut Butter Factory. It was established in 1902 and is now the Information Centre. Opposite it is the Broom Factory. It was established in 1946 by the Tumut Cooperative Millet Society. It went into private ownership in 1978 and still makes by hand traditional millet brooms. In the 1920s Tumut had 120 millet producers. Today it has just three. It is the only broom factory left in Australia.
2. Next on left is the Catholic Church. The first red brick church built in 1859 is used by the Catholic School as a hall. The fine blue granite church opened in 1878. It is known for its Rusconi marble altar and German stained glass windows. The nuns opened the present Catholic School in 1883 and their convent was finished in 1886.
3. At the roundabout turn right to the Presbyterian Church. The first Presbyterian was built in 1856 elsewhere. This current Uniting Church was built in 1878 as the Presbyterian Church.
4. In the Main St. before the second roundabout is the School of Arts. Built in 1891. It has a beautiful classical style façade with good symmetry.
5. Next to it is the Bank of NSW now Westpac. A classical colonnaded building of 1891 with Ionic columns.
6. Diagonally from it is the Commercial Bank of Sydney with fluted iron columns and French windows in the upstairs residence. Now a NAB Bank. Built in 1889 by Mansfield brothers architects.
7. Right is the Royal Hotel. The upper French windows date it to about 1860 when the Kiandra gold rush began. It was formerly known as the Rising Moon Hotel.
8. The Oriental Hotel. Built in 1876 replacing an earlier 1850 hotel. It has fine cast iron lacework on the balcony.
9. On the opposite corner is the Courthouse. Architect was James Barnet. Built in 1878. The stables were erected in 1879 and the police station completed in 1874. Beside the Police Station is the Tumut Official Residence built in 1896 in Queen Anne Federation style with rounded window, gable, veranda with wooden posts etc.
10. Worte’s cottage. Polychromatic red brick with yellow brick quoins. Decorative fretwork on barge boards. Pretty bay window. Street facing gable. Built around 1890.
11. Further down the street at next intersection is the Anglican Church. A church barn was built in 1857 and this grand church was designed by architect Edmund Blacket who designed the Carcoar Church, the University of Sydney quadrangle etc. It was started in 1875 and completed in 1878. Note the dark brick work patterns beneath the quadruple façade windows. Tower completed in 1881. Have a look inside too.
Tumut. The town nestles along the Tumut River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee which it joins in Gundagai. It begins about 40 kms from Mt Kosciusko in Kosciusko National Park and it has three dam/reservoirs along it as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydroelectric power generation system. Tumut has over 800 mm of rain yearly. Hamilton Hume discovered the Tumut River in 1824 and the first white squatter Benjamin Warby arrived in 1828 at Darbalara although he and the ones who followed him only became licensed leaseholders from 1839. They included George and William Shelley of Been (Tumut Plains) station. Shelley senior was a missionary and they are credited with making sure there were no Aboriginal deaths or massacres near Tumut. More settles arrived in the 1840s when land leasing was legal. A courthouse was established in 1845. The town was laid out in 1848 and a police constable was appointed. But by 1856 few buildings were more than mere slab huts. The first Post Office in 1849 operated from the Courthouse. Like Gundagai the original town site moved up the hill after the 1852 Tumut River floods. In 1860 thousands passed through the small town on their way to the goldfields at Kiandra (1859) in the Snowy Mountains and later to Adelong on the plains. Tumut emerged as a solid town. With gold came bushrangers and Ned Kelly’s brother operated in this district in the 1870s. By 1866 there were eleven hotels in the town and the town population was around 400; in 1887 Tumut became a municipality; and in 1903 the branch railway line from Gundagai reached the town. Dairying and forestry became major district industries in the 20th century and the Tumut River became a major site for hydroelectric power. Blowering Dam was built just above the town with Tumut 1, 2 and 3 power stations on the Tumut River. In autumn the Lombardy Poplars along the Tumut River display great colour. They were planted in 1861. More autumn colour can be found in the Avenue of Elms which leads to the racecourse, thus it is not surprising that Tumut established the Festival of the Falling Leaf in the 1950s. Tumut was one of the many sites considered for the National Capital by a Royal Commission but Canberra was finally selected for that. Tumut was selected by the House of Representatives in 1904 but then replaced by Bombala and then the Senate replaced it with Dalgety. But the NSW parliament refused to cede land around Dalgety so four years later after much politicking a site near Yass was finally approved. All places considered had to have good flat land, a good water supply and be further than 100 miles from Sydney.
The town’s historic buildings include:
1. On the way into town from Gundagai is the Old Tumut Butter Factory. It was established in 1902 and is now the Information Centre. Opposite it is the Broom Factory. It was established in 1946 by the Tumut Cooperative Millet Society. It went into private ownership in 1978 and still makes by hand traditional millet brooms. In the 1920s Tumut had 120 millet producers. Today it has just three. It is the only broom factory left in Australia.
2. Next on left is the Catholic Church. The first red brick church built in 1859 is used by the Catholic School as a hall. The fine blue granite church opened in 1878. It is known for its Rusconi marble altar and German stained glass windows. The nuns opened the present Catholic School in 1883 and their convent was finished in 1886.
3. At the roundabout turn right to the Presbyterian Church. The first Presbyterian was built in 1856 elsewhere. This current Uniting Church was built in 1878 as the Presbyterian Church.
4. In the Main St. before the second roundabout is the School of Arts. Built in 1891. It has a beautiful classical style façade with good symmetry.
5. Next to it is the Bank of NSW now Westpac. A classical colonnaded building of 1891 with Ionic columns.
6. Diagonally from it is the Commercial Bank of Sydney with fluted iron columns and French windows in the upstairs residence. Now a NAB Bank. Built in 1889 by Mansfield brothers architects.
7. Right is the Royal Hotel. The upper French windows date it to about 1860 when the Kiandra gold rush began. It was formerly known as the Rising Moon Hotel.
8. The Oriental Hotel. Built in 1876 replacing an earlier 1850 hotel. It has fine cast iron lacework on the balcony.
9. On the opposite corner is the Courthouse. Architect was James Barnet. Built in 1878. The stables were erected in 1879 and the police station completed in 1874. Beside the Police Station is the Tumut Official Residence built in 1896 in Queen Anne Federation style with rounded window, gable, veranda with wooden posts etc.
10. Worte’s cottage. Polychromatic red brick with yellow brick quoins. Decorative fretwork on barge boards. Pretty bay window. Street facing gable. Built around 1890.
11. Further down the street at next intersection is the Anglican Church. A church barn was built in 1857 and this grand church was designed by architect Edmund Blacket who designed the Carcoar Church, the University of Sydney quadrangle etc. It was started in 1875 and completed in 1878. Note the dark brick work patterns beneath the quadruple façade windows. Tower completed in 1881. Have a look inside too.
The Philippines' main financial district. This is the city of Makati in Metro Manila. The wide street that snakes into the middle of the buildings is Ayala Avenue. If you click on the photo, you'll see a note, of where the Oakwood buildings are. Just an additional information, to those who are not familiar with Philippine news or politics, this building was held hostage a few years back by a band of military personnel, part of the Philippines' armed forces. Soldiers ransacked some food in the mall(the building beside it), placed bombs around the buildings, and held a press conference with red armed bands on their shoulders. The conflict was resolved peacefully with the intervention of politicians. The band of soldiers were asking for the resignation of the president and some other politicians. What follows next was the filing of charges against the officers and the politicians who supported them into it. In the months that followed, the officers appeared on TV at the president's office sort of a reconciliation stuff along with some politicians. A few months later, something changed again, and the soldiers, along with some politicians are demanding the resignation of the president along with her politicians and generals -- again. With the charges being filed on one officer, which was not bailable, that officer remained in detention. However, that officer soon joined some politicians and ran for senator(despite facing charges and in jail) and won in the recently concluded May 2007 Philippine elections. A few days ago, there was a big issue on whether that officer-senator-elect will be temporarily released(from jail) for the senatorial proclamation along with all the other politicians who won. In the end, that officer was allowed, and his comrade politicians were delighted and criticized the government even more. politicians from different parties had something to say. I'd say I love this country, but I can't be proud of it with the state of the politicians we have. Now, if you think there's not enough politicking in this country, just count the word politicians in this post.
While the Philippines is a nice country, it seems that its people and its politicians are not yet mature enough for democracy.
Here's the million dollar question. politicians in the Philippines ran for office and spend say $1 Million for the campaign(that's a even a conservative estimate). If they won, they would get roughly $700 a month for the next 3 or six years. Don't you think its a losing business if you're not into corruption. You do the math, and let me know.
Everglades National Park is an American national park that protects the southern twenty percent of the original Everglades in Florida. The park is the largest tropical wilderness in the United States and the largest wilderness of any kind east of the Mississippi River. An average of one million people visit the park each year. Everglades is the third-largest national park in the contiguous United States after Death Valley and Yellowstone. UNESCO declared the Everglades & Dry Tortugas Biosphere Reserve in 1976 and listed the park as a World Heritage Site in 1979, and the Ramsar Convention included the park on its list of Wetlands of International Importance in 1987. Everglades is one of only three locations in the world to appear on all three lists.
Most national parks preserve unique geographic features; Everglades National Park was the first created to protect a fragile ecosystem. The Everglades are a network of wetlands and forests fed by a river flowing 0.25 miles (0.40 km) per day out of Lake Okeechobee, southwest into Florida Bay. The park is the most significant breeding ground for tropical wading birds in North America and contains the largest mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere. Thirty-six threatened or protected species inhabit the park, including the Florida panther, the American crocodile, and the West Indian manatee, along with 350 species of birds, 300 species of fresh and saltwater fish, 40 species of mammals, and 50 species of reptiles. The majority of South Florida's fresh water, which is stored in the Biscayne Aquifer, is recharged in the park.
Humans have lived for thousands of years in or around the Everglades. Plans arose in 1882 to drain the wetlands and develop the land for agricultural and residential use. As the 20th century progressed, water flow from Lake Okeechobee was increasingly controlled and diverted to enable explosive growth of the Miami metropolitan area. The park was established in 1934, to protect the quickly vanishing Everglades, and dedicated in 1947, as major canal-building projects were initiated across South Florida. The ecosystems in Everglades National Park have suffered significantly from human activity, and restoration of the Everglades is a politically charged issue in South Florida.
Everglades National Park covers 1,508,976 acres (2,357.8 sq mi; 6,106.6 km2), throughout Dade, Monroe, and Collier counties in Florida, at the southern tip of the Atlantic coastal plain. The elevation typically ranges from 0 to 8 feet (2.4 m) above sea level, but a Calusa-built shell mound on the Gulf Coast rises 20 feet (6.1 m) above sea level.
The terrain of South Florida is relatively and consistently flat. The limestone that underlies the Everglades is integral to the diverse ecosystems within the park. Florida was once part of the African portion of the supercontinent Gondwana. After it separated, conditions allowed a shallow marine environment to deposit calcium carbonate in sand, shells, and coral to be converted into limestone. Tiny bits of shell, sand, and bryozoans compressed over multiple layers forming structures in the limestone called ooids, which created permeable conditions that hold water.
The Florida peninsula appeared above sea level between 100,000 and 150,000 years ago. As sea levels rose at the end of the Wisconsin ice age, the water table appeared closer to land. Lake Okeechobee began to flood, and convection thunderstorms were created. Vast peat deposits south of Lake Okeechobee indicate that regular flooding had occurred about 5,000 years ago. Plants began to migrate, subtropical ones from the northern part of Florida, and tropicals carried as seeds by birds from islands in the Caribbean. The limestone shelf appears to be flat, but there are slight rises—called pinnacles—and depressions caused by the erosion of limestone by the acidic properties of the water. The amount of time throughout the year that water is present in a location in the Everglades determines the type of soil, of which there only two in the Everglades: peat, created by many years of decomposing plant matter, and marl, the result of dried periphyton, or chunks of algae and microorganisms that create a grayish mud. Portions of the Everglades that remain flooded for more than nine months out of the year are usually covered by peat. Areas that are flooded for six months or less are covered by marl. Plant communities are determined by the type of soil and the amount of water present.
According to the Köppen climate classification system, Royal Palm at Everglades National Park has a tropical monsoon climate (Am). Summers are long, hot, and very wet and winters are warm and dry.
While they are common in the northern portion of Florida, no underground springs feed water into the Everglades system. An underground reservoir called the Floridan aquifer lies about 1,000 feet (300 m) below the surface of South Florida. The Everglades has an immense capacity for water storage, owing to the permeable limestone beneath the exposed land. Most of the water arrives in the form of rainfall, and a significant amount is stored in the limestone. Water evaporating from the Everglades becomes rain over metropolitan areas, providing the fresh water supply for the region. Water also flows into the park after falling as rain to the north onto the watersheds of the Kissimmee River and other sources of Lake Okeechobee, to appear in the Everglades days later. Water overflows Lake Okeechobee into a river 40 to 70 miles (64 to 113 km) wide, which moves almost imperceptibly.
At the turn of the 20th century, common concepts of what should be protected in national parks invariably included formidable geologic features like mountains, geysers, or canyons. As Florida's population began to grow significantly and urban areas near the Everglades were developed, proponents of the park's establishment faced difficulty in persuading the federal government and the people of Florida that the subtle and constantly shifting ecosystems in the Everglades were just as worthy of protection. When the park was established in 1947, it became the first area within the U.S. to protect flora and fauna native to a region as opposed to geologic scenery. The National Park Service recognizes nine distinct interdependent ecosystems within the park that constantly shift in size owing to the amount of water present and other environmental factors.
Freshwater sloughs are perhaps the most common ecosystem associated with Everglades National Park. These drainage channels are characterized by low-lying areas covered in fresh water, flowing at an almost imperceptible 100 feet (30 m) per day. Shark River Slough and Taylor Slough are significant features of the park. Sawgrass growing to a height of 6 feet (1.8 m) or more, and broad-leafed marsh plants, are so prominent in this region that they gave the Everglades its nickname "River of Grass", cemented in the public imagination in the title for Marjory Stoneman Douglas's book (1947), which culminated years of her advocacy for considering the Everglades ecosystem as more than a "swamp". Excellent feeding locations for birds, sloughs in the Everglades attract a great variety of waders such as herons, egrets, roseate spoonbills (Platalea ajaja), ibises and brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis), as well as limpkins (Aramus guarauna) and snail kites that eat apple snails, which in turn feed on the sawgrass. The sloughs' availability of fish, amphibians, and young birds attract a variety of freshwater turtles, alligator (Alligator mississippiensis), water moccasin (Agkistrodon piscivorus conanti), and eastern diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus).
Freshwater marl prairies are similar to sloughs but lack the slow movement of surface water; instead, water seeps through a calcitic mud called marl. Algae and other microscopic organisms form periphyton, which attaches to limestone. When it dries it turns into a gray mud. Sawgrass and other water plants grow shorter in freshwater marl than they do in peat, the other type of soil in the Everglades which is found where water remains present longer throughout the year. Marl prairies are usually under water from three to seven months of the year, whereas sloughs may remain submerged for longer than nine months and sometimes remain under water from one year to the next. Sawgrass may dominate sloughs, creating a monoculture. Other grasses, such as muhly grass (Muhlenbergia sericea) and broad-leafed water plants can be found in marl prairies. Animals living in the freshwater sloughs also inhabit marl prairies. Marl prairies may go dry in some parts of the year; alligators play a vital role in maintaining life in remote parts of the Everglades by burrowing in the mud during the dry season, creating pools of water where fish and amphibians survive from one year to the next. Alligator holes also attract other animals who congregate to feed on smaller prey. When the region floods again during the wet season, the fish and amphibians which were sustained in the alligator holes then repopulate freshwater marl prairies.
Hammocks are often the only dry land within the park. They rise several inches above the grass-covered river and are dominated by diverse plant life consisting of subtropical and tropical trees, such as large southern live oaks (Quercus virginiana). Trees often form canopies under which animals thrive amongst scrub bushes of wild coffee (Psychotria), white indigoberry (Randia aculeata), poisonwood (Metopium toxiferum) and saw palmetto (Serenoa repens). The park features thousands of these tree islands amid sloughs—which often form the shape of a teardrop when seen from above (see park map) because of the slowly moving water around them—but they can also be found in pineland and mangroves. Trees in the Everglades, including wild tamarind (Lysiloma latisiliquum) and gumbo-limbo (Bursera simaruba), rarely grow higher than 50 feet (15 m) because of wind, fire, and climate.
The plant growth around the hammock base is nearly impenetrable; beneath the canopy hammocks is an ideal habitat for animals. Reptiles (such as various species of snake and anole) and amphibians (such as the American green tree frog, Hyla cinerea), live in the hardwood hammocks. Birds such as barred owls (Strix varia), woodpeckers, northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis), and southern bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus leucocephalus) nest in hammock trees. Mammal species living in hardwood hammocks include Florida black bears (Ursus americanus floridanus), red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), minks (Neogale vison), marsh rabbits (Sylvilagus palustris), gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and the rare, critically endangered Florida panther (Puma concolor couguar).
Miami-Dade County was once covered in 186,000 acres (290.6 sq mi; 752.7 km2) of pine rockland forests, but most of it was harvested by the lumber industry. Pineland ecosystems (or pine rocklands) are characterized by shallow, dry sandy loam over a limestone substrate covered almost exclusively by slash pines (Pinus elliottii var. densa). Trees in this ecosystem grow in solution holes, where the soft limestone has worn away and filled with soil, allowing plants to take hold. Pinelands require regular maintenance by fire to ensure their existence. South Florida slash pines are uniquely adapted to promote fire by dropping a large amount of dried pine needles and shedding dry bark. Pine cones require heat from fires to open, allowing seeds to disperse and take hold. The trunks and roots of slash pines are resistant to fire. Prescribed burns in these areas take place every three to seven years; without regular fires, hardwood trees begin to grow in this region, and pinelands become recategorized as mixed swamp forests. Most plants in the area bloom about 16 weeks after a fire. Nearly all pinelands have an understory of palm shrubs and a diverse ground covering of wild herbs.
Pine rocklands are considered one of the most threatened habitats in Florida; less than 4,000 acres (6.3 sq mi; 16.2 km2) of pineland exist outside the park. Within the park, 20,000 acres (31.3 sq mi; 80.9 km2) of pineland are protected. A variety of animal species meet their needs for food, shelter, nesting, and rooking in pine rocklands. Woodpeckers, eastern meadowlarks (Sturnella magna), loggerhead shrikes (Lanius ludovicianus), grackles, and northern mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos) are commonly found in pinelands. Black bears and Florida panthers also live in this habitat.
Cypress trees are conifers that are adapted to live in standing fresh water. They grow in compact structures called cypress domes and in long strands over limestone. Water levels may fluctuate dramatically around cypress domes and strands, so cypresses develop "knees" that protrude from the water at high levels to provide oxygen for the root systems. Dwarf cypress trees grow in drier areas with poorer soil. Epiphytes, such as bromeliads, Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides), orchids and ferns grow on the branches and trunks of cypress trees. Everglades National Park features twenty-five species of orchids. Tall cypress trees provide excellent nesting areas for birds including wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), ibis, herons, egrets, anhingas (Anhinga anhinga), and belted kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon). Mammals in cypress regions include white-tailed deer, squirrels, raccoons, opossums, skunks, swamp rabbits, river otters (Lontra canadensis), and bobcats, as well as small rodents.
Mangrove trees cover the coastlines of South Florida, sometimes growing inland depending on the amount of salt water present within the Everglades ecosystems. During drier years when less fresh water flows to the coast, mangroves will appear among fresh water plants. When rain is abundant, sawgrass and other fresh water plants may be found closer to the coast. Three species of mangrove trees—red (Rhizophora mangle), black (Avicennia germinans), and white (Laguncularia racemosa)—can be found in the Everglades. With a high tolerance of salt water, winds, extreme tides, high temperatures, and muddy soils, mangrove trees are uniquely adapted to extreme conditions. They act as nurseries for many marine and bird species. They are also Florida's first defense against the destructive forces of hurricanes, absorbing flood waters and preventing coastal erosion. The mangrove system in Everglades National Park is the largest continuous system of mangroves in the world.
Within the Florida mangrove systems live 220 species of fish, and a variety of crabs, crayfish, shrimp, mollusks, and other invertebrates, which serve as the main source of food for many birds. Dozens of bird species use mangroves as nurseries and food stores, including pelicans, grebes, tricolored herons (Egretta tricolor), gulls, terns, hawks and kites, and arboreal birds like mangrove cuckoos (Coccyzus minor), yellow warblers (Dendroica petechia), and white-crowned pigeons (Patagioenas leucocephala). The mangroves also support 24 species of amphibians and reptiles, and 18 species of mammals, including the endangered green turtle (Chelonia mydas), hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), and West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus).
Coastal lowlands, or wet prairies, are salt water marshes that absorb marine water when it gets high or fresh water when rains are heavy. Floods occur during hurricane and tropical storm surges when ocean water can rise several feet over the land. Heavy wet seasons also cause floods when rain from the north flows into the Everglades. Few trees can survive in the conditions of this region, but plants—succulents like saltwort and glasswort—tolerate salt, brackish water, and desert conditions. Animal life in this zone is dependent upon the amount of water present, but commonly found animals include Cape Sable seaside sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus mirabilis), Everglades snail kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis), wood stork (Mycteria americana), eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon couperi), and small mammals such as rats, mice, and rabbits.
The largest body of water within the park is Florida Bay, which extends from the mangrove swamps of the mainland's southern tip to the Florida Keys. Over 800 square miles (2,100 km2) of marine ecosystem lies in this range. Coral, sponges, and seagrasses serve as shelter and food for crustaceans and mollusks, which in turn are the primary food source for larger marine animals. Sharks, stingrays, and barracudas also live in this ecosystem. Pelicans, shorebirds, terns, and black skimmers (Rynchops niger) are among the birds frequenting park shorelines. The bay also has its own resident population of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).
The bay's many basins are broken up by sandbanks that serve as plentiful recreational fishing grounds for snook (Centropomus undecimalis), redfish (Sciaenops ocellatus), spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), tarpon (Megaflops atlanticus), bonefish (Albula vulpes), and permit (Trichinous falcatus),[48] as well as snapper (Lutjanus campechanus), bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), and bass. Wading birds such as roseate spoonbills (Platalea ajaja), reddish egrets (Egretta rufescens), and great white herons (Ardea herodias occidentalis) have unique subpopulations that are largely restricted to Florida Bay. Other bird species include bald eagles, cormorants, and ospreys. Mammals along the shoreline include raccoons, opossums, bobcats, and fox squirrels.
Humans likely first inhabited the South Florida region 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. Two tribes of Native Americans developed on the peninsula's southern tip: the Tequesta lived on the eastern side and the Calusa, greater in numbers, on the western side. The Everglades served as a natural boundary between them. The Tequesta lived in a single large community near the mouth of the Miami River, while the Calusa lived in 30 villages. Both groups traveled through the Everglades but rarely lived within them, remaining mostly along the coast.
The diets of both groups consisted mostly of shellfish and fish, small mammals, game, and wild plants. Having access only to soft limestone, most of the tools fashioned by Native Americans in the region were made of shell, bone, wood, and animal teeth; shark teeth were used as cutting blades, and sharpened reeds became arrows and spears. Shell mounds still exist today within the park, giving archaeologists and anthropologists evidence of the raw materials available to the indigenous people for tool construction. Spanish explorers estimated the number of Tequesta at first contact to be around 800, and Calusa at 2,000; the National Park Service reports there were probably about 20,000 natives living in or near the Everglades when the Spanish established contact in the late 16th century. The Calusa lived in social strata and were able to create canals, earthworks, and shellworks. The Calusa were also able to resist Spanish attempts at conquest.
The Spanish had contact with these societies and established missions further north, near Lake Okeechobee. In the 18th century, invading Creeks incorporated the dwindling numbers of the Tequesta into their own. Neither the Tequesta nor Calusa tribe existed by 1800. Disease, warfare, and capture for slavery were the reasons for the eradication of both groups. The only evidence of their existence within the park boundaries is a series of shell mounds that were built by the Calusa.
In the early 19th century, Creeks, escaped African slaves, and other Indians from northern Florida displaced by the Creek War, formed the area's Seminole nation. After the end of the Seminole Wars in 1842, the Seminoles faced relocation to Indian territory near Oklahoma. A few hundred Seminole hunters and scouts settled within what is today Big Cypress National Preserve, to escape the forced emigration to the west. From 1859 to about 1930, the Seminoles and Miccosukee, a similar but linguistically unique tribe, lived in relative isolation, making their living by trading. In 1928, surveying and construction began on the Tamiami Trail, along the northern border of Everglades National Park. The road bisected the Everglades, introducing a steady, if small, traffic of white settlers into the Everglades.
Some members of the Miccosukee and Seminole tribes continue to live within park boundaries. Management of the park includes approval of new policies and procedures by tribal representatives "in such a manner that they do not conflict with the park purpose".
Following the end of the Seminole Wars, Americans began settling at isolated points along the coast in what is now the park, from the Ten Thousand Islands to Cape Sable. Communities developed on the two largest pieces of dry ground in the area, on Chokoloskee Island and at Flamingo on Cape Sable, both of which established post offices in the early 1890s. Chokoloskee Island is a shell mound, a midden built roughly 20 feet (6 m) high over thousands of years of occupation by the Calusa. The settlements in Chokoloskee and Flamingo served as trading centers for small populations of farmers, fishermen, and charcoal burners settled in the Ten Thousand Islands. Both settlements and the more isolated homesteads could only be reached by boat until well into the 20th century. Everglades City, on the mainland near Chokoloskee, enjoyed a brief period of prosperity when, beginning in 1920, it served as the headquarters for the construction of the Tamiami Trail. A dirt road from Florida City reached Flamingo in 1922, while a causeway finally connected Chokoloskee to the mainland's Everglades City in 1956.
After the park was established, private property in the Flamingo area was claimed by eminent domain, and the site was incorporated into the park as a visitor center.
Several attempts were made to drain and develop the Everglades in the 1880s. The first canals built in the Everglades did little harm to the ecosystem, as they were unable to drain much of it. Napoleon Bonaparte Broward based the majority of his 1904 campaign for governor on how drainage would create "The Empire of the Everglades". Broward ordered the drainage that took place between 1905 and 1910, and it was successful enough that land developers sold tracts for $30 per acre, settling the town of Davie, and developing regions in Lee and Dade counties. The canals also cleared water that made way for agricultural fields growing sugarcane.
In the 1920s, a population boom in South Florida created the Florida land boom, which was described by author Michael Grunwald as "insanity". Land was sold before any homes or structures were built on it and in some cases before any plans for construction were in place. New landowners, eager to make good on their investments, hastily constructed homes and small towns on recently drained land. Mangrove trees on the coasts were taken down for better views and replaced with shallow-rooted palm trees. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began construction on larger canals to control the rising waters in the Everglades. Nevertheless, Lake Okeechobee continued to rise and fall, the region was covered with rain, and city planners continued to battle the water. The 1926 Miami Hurricane caused Lake Okeechobee levees to fail; hundreds of people south of the lake drowned. Two years later, the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane claimed 2,500 lives when Lake Okeechobee once again surged over its levees. Politicians who declared the Everglades uninhabitable were silenced when a four-story wall, the Herbert Hoover Dike, was built around Lake Okeechobee. This wall effectively cut off the water source from the Everglades.
Following the wall's construction, South Florida endured a drought severe enough to cause serious wildfires in 1939. The influx of humans had a detrimental effect on the plants and animals of the region when melaleuca trees (Melaleuca quinquenervia) were introduced to help with drainage, along with Australian pines brought in by developers as windbreaks. The region's timber was devastated for lumber supplies. Alligators, birds, frogs, and fish were hunted on a large scale. Entire rookeries of wading birds were shot to collect their plumes, which were used in women's hats in the early 20th century. The largest impact people had on the region was the diversion of water away from the Everglades. Canals were deepened and widened, and water levels fell dramatically, causing chaos in food webs. Salt water replaced fresh water in the canals, and by 1997 scientists noticed that salt water was seeping into the Biscayne Aquifer, South Florida's water source.
In the 1940s, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, a freelance writer and former reporter for The Miami Herald, began to research the Everglades for an assignment about the Miami River. She studied the land and water for five years and published The Everglades: River of Grass in 1947, describing the area in great detail, including a chapter on its disappearance. She wrote: "What had been a river of grass and sweet water that had given meaning and life and uniqueness to this enormous geography through centuries in which man had no place here was made, in one chaotic gesture of greed and ignorance and folly, a river of fire." The book has sold 500,000 copies since its publication, and Douglas's continued dedication to ecology conservation earned her the nicknames "Grand Dame of the Everglades", "Grandmother of the Everglades" and "the anti-Christ" for her singular focus at the expense of some political interests. She founded and served as president for an organization called Friends of the Everglades, initially intended to protest the construction of a proposed Big Cypress jetport in 1968. Successful in that confrontation, the organization has grown to over 4,000 members, committed to the preservation of the Everglades. She wrote and spoke about the importance of the Everglades until her death at age 108 in 1998.
Floridians hoping to preserve at least part of the Everglades began to express their concern over diminishing resources in the early 20th century. Royal Palm State Park was created in 1916 and protected Paradise Key; it included several trails and a visitor center several miles from Homestead. Miami-based naturalists first proposed that the area become a national park in 1923. Five years later, the Florida state legislature established the Tropical Everglades National Park Commission to study the formation of a protected area. The commission was led by Ernest F. Coe, a land developer turned conservationist, who was eventually nicknamed Father of Everglades National Park. Coe's original plan for the park included more than 2,000,000 acres (3,125.0 sq mi; 8,093.7 km2) including Key Largo and Big Cypress, and his unwillingness to compromise almost prevented the park's creation. Various other interests, including land developers and sport hunters, demanded that the size of the park be decreased.
The commission was also tasked with proposing a method to raise the money to purchase the land. The search coincided with the arrival of the Great Depression in the United States, and money for land purchase was scarce. The U.S. House of Representatives authorized the creation of the new national park on May 30, 1934, but the Act (HR 2837), which permanently reserved lands donated by public or private donation as wilderness, passed only with a rider that ensured no money would be allotted to the project for at least five years. Coe's passion and U.S. Senator Spessard Holland's politicking helped to fully establish the park, after Holland was able to negotiate 1,300,000 acres (2,031.2 sq mi; 5,260.9 km2) of the park, leaving out Big Cypress, Key Largo, the Turner River area, and a 22,000-acre (34.4 sq mi; 89.0 km2) tract of land called "The Hole in the Donut" that was too highly valued for agriculture. Miami Herald editor John Pennekamp was instrumental in pushing the Florida Legislature to raise $2 million to purchase the private land inside the park boundaries. It was dedicated by President Harry Truman on December 6, 1947, one month after Marjory Stoneman Douglas's book The Everglades: River of Grass was released. The same year, several tropical storms struck South Florida, prompting the construction of 1,400 miles (2,300 km) of canals, sending water unwanted by farmers and residents to the ocean.
The Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project (C&SF) was authorized by Congress to construct more than one thousand miles of canals and flood control structures across South Florida. The C&SF, run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, established an agricultural area directly south of Lake Okeechobee, and three water conservation areas, all bordered by canals that diverted excess water either to urban areas or into the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico or Florida Bay. South of these manmade regions was Everglades National Park, which had been effectively cut off from its water supply. By the 1960s, the park was visibly suffering. The C&SF was directed to provide enough water to sustain the park; it did not follow through. A proposed airport that would have dire environmental effects on Everglades National Park became the center of a battle that helped to initiate the environmental movement into local and national politics. The airport proposal was eventually abandoned, and in 1972 a bill was introduced to curb development in South Florida and ensure the national park would receive the amount of water it needed. Efforts turned to repairing the damage wrought by decades of mismanagement: the Army Corps of Engineers changed its focus in 1990 from constructing dams and canals to constructing "purely environmental projects".
Regions originally included in Ernest Coe's vision for a national park were slowly added over the years to the park or incorporated into other protected areas: Biscayne National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park on Key Largo, Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary were all protected after the park's opening in 1947. Everglades National Park was designated an International Biosphere Reserve on October 26, 1976. On November 10, 1978, 1,296,500 acres (2,025.8 sq mi; 5,246.7 km2), about 86% of the park, was declared a wilderness area. It was renamed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness in 1997. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on October 24, 1979, and as a Wetland of International Importance on June 4, 1987. It was placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger from 1993 until 2007 and then again in 2010. The park was added again due to the continued degradation of the set causing significant indications of eutrophication (for example algal blooms) negatively impacting the marine life causing the US government to request UNESCO and IUCN for assistance in development.
President George H. W. Bush signed the Everglades National Park Protection and Expansion Act on December 13, 1989, that added 109,506 acres (171.1 sq mi; 443.2 km2) to the eastern side of the park, closed the park to airboats, directed the Department of the Army to restore water to improve the ecosystems within Everglades National Park, and "Direct(ed) the Secretary of the Interior to manage the Park in order to maintain the natural abundance, diversity, and ecological integrity of native plants and animals, as well as the behavior of native animals, as part of their ecosystem." Bush remarked in his statement when signing the act, "Through this legislation that river of grass may now be restored to its natural flow of water".
In 2000, Congress approved the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), a federal effort to restore the Everglades with the objectives of "restoration, preservation and protection of the south Florida ecosystem while providing for other water-related needs of the region", and claiming to be the largest environmental restoration in history. It was a controversial plan; detractors worried that it "relies on uncertain technologies, overlooks water quality, subsidizes damaging growth and delays its environmental benefits".[90] Supporters of the plan included the National Audubon Society, who were accused by Friends of the Everglades and the Biodiversity Legal Foundation of prioritizing agricultural and business interests.
The namesake of Anhinga Trail dries its feathers
CERP projects are designed to capture 1.7 billion US gallons (6,400,000 m3) of fresh water every day, store it in underground reservoirs, and release the water to areas within 16 counties in South Florida. Approximately 35,600 acres (55.6 sq mi; 144.1 km2) of man-made wetlands are to be constructed to confine contaminated water before it is released to the Everglades, and 240 miles (390 km) of canals that divert water away from the Everglades are to be destroyed. During the first five years of implementation, CERP was responsible for the purchase of 207,000 acres (323.4 sq mi; 837.7 km2) of land at a cost of $1 billion. The plan aims to spend $10.5 billion over 30 years, combining 50 different projects and giving them 5-year timelines.
Everglades National Park was directly hit by Hurricanes Katrina, Wilma, and Rita in 2005. Such storms are a natural part of the park's ecosystem; 1960's Hurricane Donna left nothing in the mangroves but "standing dead snags" several miles wide, but 30 years later the area had completely recovered. Predictably, what suffered the most in the park from the 2005 hurricanes were man-made structures. In 2009 the visitor center and lodge at Flamingo were irreparably damaged by 125 mph (201 km/h) winds and an 8 ft (2.4 m) storm surge; the lodge had been functioning for 50 years when it was torn down; nothing is slated to replace it.
Everglades National Park reported in 2005 a budget of over $28 million. Of that, $14.8 million was granted from the National Park Service and $13.5 million from various sources including CERP, donations, and other grants. The entry fee for private vehicles in 2021 is $30. Of the nearly one million visitors to Everglades National Park in 2006, more than 38,000 were overnight campers, paying $16 a night or $10 a night for backcountry permits. Visitors spent $2.6 million within the park and $48 million in local economies. More than 900 jobs were sustained or created within or by the park, and the park added value of $35 million to local economies.
Everglades National Park has had 19 superintendents since it was dedicated in 1947. The park's first superintendent, Daniel Beard (1947-1958), was also its longest-serving. After Superintendent Beard, Warren F. Hamilton served between 1958 and 1963, followed by Stanley C. Joseph (1963-1966), Roger W. Allin (1966-1968), John C. Raftery (1968-1970), Joseph Brown (1970-1971), Jack E. Stark (1971-1976), John M. Good (1976-1980), John M. Morehead (1980-1986), Marueen E. Finnerty (Acting Superintendent, 1986), Michael V. Finley (1986-1989), Robert L. Arnberger (Acting Superintendent, 1989), Robert S. Chandler (1989-1992), Dick Ring (1992-2000), Marueen E. Finnerty (2000-2003), Dan Kimball (2004-2014), Shawn Benge (Acting Superintendent, 2014), Bob Krumenaker (Acting Superintendent, 2014-2015), and finally Pedro Ramos, who was appointed in 2015 and continues to serve.
The park was placed into Administrative Region I in 1937, when the regions were first established. Region I was retitled the Southeast Region in 1962, which was restructured into the Southeast Area in 1995. The reorganized unified Interior regions put it in the new Region 2.
The busiest season for visitors is from December to March, when temperatures are lowest and mosquitoes are least active. The park features five visitor centers: on the Tamiami Trail (part of U.S. Route 41) directly west of Miami is the Shark Valley Visitor Center. A fifteen-mile (24 km) round trip path leads from this center to a two-story observation tower. Tram tours are available during the busy season. Closest to Homestead on State Road 9336 is the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center, where a 38-mile (61 km) road begins, winding through pine rockland, cypress, freshwater marl prairie, coastal prairie, and mangrove ecosystems. Various hiking trails are accessible from the road, which runs to the Flamingo Visitor Center and marina, open and staffed during the busier time of the year. The Gulf Coast Visitor Center is closest to Everglades City on State Road 29 along the west coast. The Gulf Coast Visitor Center gives canoers access to the Wilderness Waterway, a 99-mile (160 km) canoe trail that extends to the Flamingo Visitor Center. The former Royal Palm State Park was the site of the first Everglades National Park visitor center and later became the Royal Palm Visitor Center within the park. The western coast of the park and the Ten Thousand Islands and the various key islands in Florida Bay are accessible only by boat.
Several walking trails in the park vary in hiking difficulty on Pine Island, where visitors can cross hardwood hammocks, pinelands, and freshwater sloughs. Starting at the Royal Palm Visitor Center, the Anhinga Trail is a half-mile self-guided tour through a sawgrass marsh where visitors can see alligators, marsh and wading birds, turtles, and bromeliads. Its proximity to Homestead and its accessibility make it one of the most visited sites in the park. The nearby Gumbo Limbo Trail is also self-guided, at half-mile long. It loops through a canopy of hardwood hammocks that include gumbo limbo (Bursera simaruba), royal palms (Roystonea), strangler figs (Ficus aurea), and a variety of epiphytes.
Twenty-eight miles (45 km) of trails start near the Long Pine Key campgrounds and wind through Long Pine Key, well-suited for offroad cycling through the pine rocklands in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness Area. Two boardwalks allow visitors to walk through a cypress forest at Pa-Hay-O-Kee, which also features a two-story overlook, and another at Mahogany Hammock (referring to Swietenia mahagoni) that takes hikers through a dense forest in the middle of a freshwater marl prairie. Closer to Flamingo, more rugged trails take visitors through mangrove swamps, along Florida Bay. Christian Point Trail, Snake Bight Trail, Rowdy Bend Trail and Coastal Prairie Trail allow viewing of shorebirds and wading birds among the mangroves. Portions of the trails may be impassable depending on the time of year, because of mosquitoes and water levels. Ranger-led tours take place in the busier season only.
Camping is available year-round in Everglades National Park. Camping with some services is available at Long Pine Key, close to the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center, where 108 sites are accessible by car. Near Flamingo, 234 campsites with some services are also available. Recreational vehicle camping is available at these sites, but not with all necessary services. Back-country permits are required for campsites along the Wilderness Waterway, Gulf Coast sites, and sites in the various keys. Several back-country sites are chickees; others are beach and ground sites.
Low-powered motorboats are allowed in the park; the majority of salt water areas are no-wake zones to protect manatees and other marine animals from harm. Jet skis, airboats, and other motorized personal watercraft are prohibited. Many trails allow kayaks and canoes. A state license is required for fishing. Fresh water licenses are not sold in the park, but a salt water license may be available. Swimming is not recommended within the park boundaries; water moccasins, snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina), alligators, and crocodiles thrive in fresh water. Sharks, barracuda, and sharp dangerous coral are plentiful in salt water. Visibility is low in both salt water and fresh water areas.
Everglades National Park is an important part of the Great Florida Birding Trail. It has great biodiversity and many species of birds for bird watching and bird photography also.
Portions of Everglades National Park are ideal for dark sky observations in South Florida. The best viewing locations are in the remote southern and western areas of the Everglades, such as Flamingo and the Ten Thousand Islands. The Milky Way appears brightest when looking south, toward the least light-polluted areas.
Less than 50 percent of the Everglades which existed prior to drainage attempts remains intact today. Populations of wading birds dwindled 90 percent from their original numbers between the 1940s and 2000s. The diversion of water to South Florida's still-growing metropolitan areas is the Everglades National Park's number one threat. In the 1950s and 1960s, 1,400 miles (2,300 km) of canals and levees, 150 gates and spillways, and 16 pumping stations were constructed to direct water toward cities and away from the Everglades. Low levels of water leave fish vulnerable to reptiles and birds, and as sawgrass dries it can burn or die off, which in turn kills apple snails and other animals that wading birds feed upon. Populations of birds fluctuate; in 2009, the South Florida Water Management District claimed wading birds across South Florida increased by 335 percent. Following three years of increasing numbers, The Miami Herald reported in 2009 that populations of wading birds within the park decreased by 29 percent.
Cities along the west coast of Florida rely on desalinization for fresh water; the quantity demanded is too great for the land to provide. Nitrates in the underground water system and high levels of mercury also impact the quality of fresh water the park receives. In 1998, a Florida panther was found dead in Shark Water Slough, with levels of mercury high enough to kill a human. Increased occurrences of algal blooms and red tide in Biscayne Bay and Florida Bay have been traced to the amounts of controlled water released from Lake Okeechobee. The brochure given to visitors at Everglades National Park includes a statement that reads, "Freshwater flowing into the park is engineered. With the help of pumps, floodgates, and retention ponds along the park's boundary, the Everglades is presently on life support, alive but diminished."
A series of levees on the park's eastern border marks the line between urban and protected areas, but development into these areas threatens the park system. Florida still attracts nearly a thousand new residents every day,[119] and building residential, commercial and industrial zones near Everglades National Park stresses the water balance and ecosystems within the park. On the park's western border, Fort Myers, Naples, and Cape Coral are expanding, but no system of levees exists to mark that border. National Geographic rated both Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve the lowest-scoring parks in North America, at 32 out of 100. Their scoring system rated 55 parks by their sustainable tourism, destination quality, and park management. The experts who compiled the results justified the score by stating: "Encroachment by housing and retail development has thrown the precious ecosystem into a tailspin, and if humankind doesn't back off, there will be nothing left of one of this country's most amazing treasures".
Thirty-six federally protected animals live in the park, some of which face grave threats to their survival.
In the United States, the American crocodile's only habitat is within South Florida. They were once overhunted for their hides. They are protected today from hunting but are still threatened by habitat destruction and injury from vehicle collisions when crossing roads to reach waterways. About 2,000 crocodiles live in Florida, and there are roughly 100 nests in the Everglades and Biscayne National Parks. Crocodiles populations in South Florida have increased as has the number of alligators. Crocodiles were reclassified from "endangered" to "threatened" in the United States in 2007.
The Florida panther is one of the most endangered mammals on earth. About 230 live in the wild, primarily in the Everglades and the Big Cypress Swamp. The biggest threats to the panther include habitat destruction from human development, vehicle collisions, inbreeding due to their limited gene pool, parasites, diseases, and mercury poisoning.
Four Everglade species of sea turtle including the Atlantic green sea turtle, the Atlantic hawksbill, the Atlantic loggerhead (Caretta caretta), and the Atlantic ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) are endangered. Also, the leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is threatened. Numbers are difficult to determine, since males and juveniles do not return to their birthplace; females lay eggs in the same location every year. Habitat loss, illegal poaching, and destructive fishing practices are the biggest threats to these animals.
The range of the Cape Sable seaside sparrow is restricted to Everglades National Park and the Big Cypress Swamp. In 1981 6,656 Cape Sable seaside sparrows were reported in park boundaries, but surveys over 10 years documented a decline to an estimated 2,624 birds by 2002. Attempts to return natural levels of water to the park have been controversial; Cape Sable seaside sparrows nest about a foot off the ground, and rising water levels may harm future populations, as well as threaten the locally endangered snail kite. The Everglades snail kite eats apple snails almost exclusively, and the Everglades is the only location in the United States where this bird of prey exists. There is some evidence that the population may be increasing, but the loss of habitat and food sources keep the estimated number of these birds at several hundred.
The West Indian manatee has been upgraded from endangered to threatened. Collisions with boats and habitat loss are still its biggest threats.
Fire naturally occurs after lightning storms but takes its heaviest toll when water levels are low. Hardwood hammock and cypress trees are susceptible to heavy damage from fire, and some may take decades to grow back. Peat built up over centuries in the marsh can cause fires to burn deep scars in the soil. In 2007, Fred Sklar of the South Florida Water Management District said: "An extreme drought can be viewed (as) almost as catastrophic as a volcano. It can reshape the entire landscape. It can take 1,000 years to produce two inches of peat, and you can lose those couple of inches in a week."
Rising sea levels caused by global warming are another threat to the future of the park. Since 1932, ocean levels at Key West have steadily risen over 0.7 feet (0.2 m), which could have disastrous consequences for land so close to the ocean. It is estimated that within 500 years freshwater habitats in the Everglades National Park will be obliterated by salt water, leaving only the northernmost portion of the Everglades. Cost estimates for raising or replacing the Tamiami Trail and Alligator Alley with bridges are in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Through Trump Administration, The Florida Department of Transportation, and Everglades National Park, there are plans to execute and complete the Next Steps project to help fix these various water issues, along with other parts of the park. This completion plan was announced in September 2020, will begin November 2020, and should be done by the end of 2024.
The introduction of non-native species into South Florida is a considerable problem for the park. Many of the biological controls such as weather, disease, and consumers who naturally limit plants in their native environments do not exist in the Everglades, causing many to grow larger and multiply far beyond their average numbers in their native habitats. Approximately 26 percent of all fish, reptiles, birds, and mammal species in South Florida are exotic—more than in any other part of the U.S.—and the region hosts one of the highest numbers of exotic plant species in the world.
Species that adapt the most aggressively to conditions in the Everglades, by spreading quickly or competing with native species that sometimes are threatened or endangered, are called "invasive". Thousands of exotic plant species have been observed in South Florida, usually introduced as ornamental landscaping, but park staff must eradicate such invasive plants as melaleuca tree (Melaleuca quinquenervia), Brazilian pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius), and Old World climbing fern (Lygodium microphyllum). Similarly, animals often do not find the predators or natural barriers to reproduction in the Everglades as they do where they originate, thus they often reproduce more quickly and efficiently. Lobate lac scale insects (Paratachardina pseudolobata) kill shrubs and other plants in hardwood hammocks. Bromeliad beetles (Metamasius callizona) destroy bromeliads and the ecosystems they host.
Walking catfish (Clarias batrachus) can deplete aquaculture stocks and they carry enteric septicemia. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) listed eight "Reptiles of Concern", including the Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus), focusing on them for their large sizes and aggressive natures, allowing licensed hunters to kill any listed animals in protected areas and sell their meat and hides. Burmese pythons, two subspecies of African rock pythons (Python sebae; northern and southern), and yellow anacondas (Eunectes notaeus) were banned from import into the U.S. in 2012. United States Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced the inclusion of these reptiles at Everglades National Park. Exotic species control falls under the management of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has been compiling and disseminating information about invasive species since 1994. Control of invasive species costs $500 million per year, but 1,700,000 acres (2,656.2 sq mi; 6,879.7 km2) of land in South Florida remains infested.
Tumut. The town nestles along the Tumut River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee which it joins in Gundagai. It begins about 40 kms from Mt Kosciusko in Kosciusko National Park and it has three dam/reservoirs along it as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydroelectric power generation system. Tumut has over 800 mm of rain yearly. Hamilton Hume discovered the Tumut River in 1824 and the first white squatter Benjamin Warby arrived in 1828 at Darbalara although he and the ones who followed him only became licensed leaseholders from 1839. They included George and William Shelley of Been (Tumut Plains) station. Shelley senior was a missionary and they are credited with making sure there were no Aboriginal deaths or massacres near Tumut. More settles arrived in the 1840s when land leasing was legal. A courthouse was established in 1845. The town was laid out in 1848 and a police constable was appointed. But by 1856 few buildings were more than mere slab huts. The first Post Office in 1849 operated from the Courthouse. Like Gundagai the original town site moved up the hill after the 1852 Tumut River floods. In 1860 thousands passed through the small town on their way to the goldfields at Kiandra (1859) in the Snowy Mountains and later to Adelong on the plains. Tumut emerged as a solid town. With gold came bushrangers and Ned Kelly’s brother operated in this district in the 1870s. By 1866 there were eleven hotels in the town and the town population was around 400; in 1887 Tumut became a municipality; and in 1903 the branch railway line from Gundagai reached the town. Dairying and forestry became major district industries in the 20th century and the Tumut River became a major site for hydroelectric power. Blowering Dam was built just above the town with Tumut 1, 2 and 3 power stations on the Tumut River. In autumn the Lombardy Poplars along the Tumut River display great colour. They were planted in 1861. More autumn colour can be found in the Avenue of Elms which leads to the racecourse, thus it is not surprising that Tumut established the Festival of the Falling Leaf in the 1950s. Tumut was one of the many sites considered for the National Capital by a Royal Commission but Canberra was finally selected for that. Tumut was selected by the House of Representatives in 1904 but then replaced by Bombala and then the Senate replaced it with Dalgety. But the NSW parliament refused to cede land around Dalgety so four years later after much politicking a site near Yass was finally approved. All places considered had to have good flat land, a good water supply and be further than 100 miles from Sydney.
The town’s historic buildings include:
1. On the way into town from Gundagai is the Old Tumut Butter Factory. It was established in 1902 and is now the Information Centre. Opposite it is the Broom Factory. It was established in 1946 by the Tumut Cooperative Millet Society. It went into private ownership in 1978 and still makes by hand traditional millet brooms. In the 1920s Tumut had 120 millet producers. Today it has just three. It is the only broom factory left in Australia.
2. Next on left is the Catholic Church. The first red brick church built in 1859 is used by the Catholic School as a hall. The fine blue granite church opened in 1878. It is known for its Rusconi marble altar and German stained glass windows. The nuns opened the present Catholic School in 1883 and their convent was finished in 1886.
3. At the roundabout turn right to the Presbyterian Church. The first Presbyterian was built in 1856 elsewhere. This current Uniting Church was built in 1878 as the Presbyterian Church.
4. In the Main St. before the second roundabout is the School of Arts. Built in 1891. It has a beautiful classical style façade with good symmetry.
5. Next to it is the Bank of NSW now Westpac. A classical colonnaded building of 1891 with Ionic columns.
6. Diagonally from it is the Commercial Bank of Sydney with fluted iron columns and French windows in the upstairs residence. Now a NAB Bank. Built in 1889 by Mansfield brothers architects.
7. Right is the Royal Hotel. The upper French windows date it to about 1860 when the Kiandra gold rush began. It was formerly known as the Rising Moon Hotel.
8. The Oriental Hotel. Built in 1876 replacing an earlier 1850 hotel. It has fine cast iron lacework on the balcony.
9. On the opposite corner is the Courthouse. Architect was James Barnet. Built in 1878. The stables were erected in 1879 and the police station completed in 1874. Beside the Police Station is the Tumut Official Residence built in 1896 in Queen Anne Federation style with rounded window, gable, veranda with wooden posts etc.
10. Worte’s cottage. Polychromatic red brick with yellow brick quoins. Decorative fretwork on barge boards. Pretty bay window. Street facing gable. Built around 1890.
11. Further down the street at next intersection is the Anglican Church. A church barn was built in 1857 and this grand church was designed by architect Edmund Blacket who designed the Carcoar Church, the University of Sydney quadrangle etc. It was started in 1875 and completed in 1878. Note the dark brick work patterns beneath the quadruple façade windows. Tower completed in 1881. Have a look inside too.
Tumut. The town nestles along the Tumut River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee which it joins in Gundagai. It begins about 40 kms from Mt Kosciusko in Kosciusko National Park and it has three dam/reservoirs along it as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydroelectric power generation system. Tumut has over 800 mm of rain yearly. Hamilton Hume discovered the Tumut River in 1824 and the first white squatter Benjamin Warby arrived in 1828 at Darbalara although he and the ones who followed him only became licensed leaseholders from 1839. They included George and William Shelley of Been (Tumut Plains) station. Shelley senior was a missionary and they are credited with making sure there were no Aboriginal deaths or massacres near Tumut. More settles arrived in the 1840s when land leasing was legal. A courthouse was established in 1845. The town was laid out in 1848 and a police constable was appointed. But by 1856 few buildings were more than mere slab huts. The first Post Office in 1849 operated from the Courthouse. Like Gundagai the original town site moved up the hill after the 1852 Tumut River floods. In 1860 thousands passed through the small town on their way to the goldfields at Kiandra (1859) in the Snowy Mountains and later to Adelong on the plains. Tumut emerged as a solid town. With gold came bushrangers and Ned Kelly’s brother operated in this district in the 1870s. By 1866 there were eleven hotels in the town and the town population was around 400; in 1887 Tumut became a municipality; and in 1903 the branch railway line from Gundagai reached the town. Dairying and forestry became major district industries in the 20th century and the Tumut River became a major site for hydroelectric power. Blowering Dam was built just above the town with Tumut 1, 2 and 3 power stations on the Tumut River. In autumn the Lombardy Poplars along the Tumut River display great colour. They were planted in 1861. More autumn colour can be found in the Avenue of Elms which leads to the racecourse, thus it is not surprising that Tumut established the Festival of the Falling Leaf in the 1950s. Tumut was one of the many sites considered for the National Capital by a Royal Commission but Canberra was finally selected for that. Tumut was selected by the House of Representatives in 1904 but then replaced by Bombala and then the Senate replaced it with Dalgety. But the NSW parliament refused to cede land around Dalgety so four years later after much politicking a site near Yass was finally approved. All places considered had to have good flat land, a good water supply and be further than 100 miles from Sydney.
The town’s historic buildings include:
1. On the way into town from Gundagai is the Old Tumut Butter Factory. It was established in 1902 and is now the Information Centre. Opposite it is the Broom Factory. It was established in 1946 by the Tumut Cooperative Millet Society. It went into private ownership in 1978 and still makes by hand traditional millet brooms. In the 1920s Tumut had 120 millet producers. Today it has just three. It is the only broom factory left in Australia.
2. Next on left is the Catholic Church. The first red brick church built in 1859 is used by the Catholic School as a hall. The fine blue granite church opened in 1878. It is known for its Rusconi marble altar and German stained glass windows. The nuns opened the present Catholic School in 1883 and their convent was finished in 1886.
3. At the roundabout turn right to the Presbyterian Church. The first Presbyterian was built in 1856 elsewhere. This current Uniting Church was built in 1878 as the Presbyterian Church.
4. In the Main St. before the second roundabout is the School of Arts. Built in 1891. It has a beautiful classical style façade with good symmetry.
5. Next to it is the Bank of NSW now Westpac. A classical colonnaded building of 1891 with Ionic columns.
6. Diagonally from it is the Commercial Bank of Sydney with fluted iron columns and French windows in the upstairs residence. Now a NAB Bank. Built in 1889 by Mansfield brothers architects.
7. Right is the Royal Hotel. The upper French windows date it to about 1860 when the Kiandra gold rush began. It was formerly known as the Rising Moon Hotel.
8. The Oriental Hotel. Built in 1876 replacing an earlier 1850 hotel. It has fine cast iron lacework on the balcony.
9. On the opposite corner is the Courthouse. Architect was James Barnet. Built in 1878. The stables were erected in 1879 and the police station completed in 1874. Beside the Police Station is the Tumut Official Residence built in 1896 in Queen Anne Federation style with rounded window, gable, veranda with wooden posts etc.
10. Worte’s cottage. Polychromatic red brick with yellow brick quoins. Decorative fretwork on barge boards. Pretty bay window. Street facing gable. Built around 1890.
11. Further down the street at next intersection is the Anglican Church. A church barn was built in 1857 and this grand church was designed by architect Edmund Blacket who designed the Carcoar Church, the University of Sydney quadrangle etc. It was started in 1875 and completed in 1878. Note the dark brick work patterns beneath the quadruple façade windows. Tower completed in 1881. Have a look inside too.
Tumut. The town nestles along the Tumut River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee which it joins in Gundagai. It begins about 40 kms from Mt Kosciusko in Kosciusko National Park and it has three dam/reservoirs along it as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydroelectric power generation system. Tumut has over 800 mm of rain yearly. Hamilton Hume discovered the Tumut River in 1824 and the first white squatter Benjamin Warby arrived in 1828 at Darbalara although he and the ones who followed him only became licensed leaseholders from 1839. They included George and William Shelley of Been (Tumut Plains) station. Shelley senior was a missionary and they are credited with making sure there were no Aboriginal deaths or massacres near Tumut. More settles arrived in the 1840s when land leasing was legal. A courthouse was established in 1845. The town was laid out in 1848 and a police constable was appointed. But by 1856 few buildings were more than mere slab huts. The first Post Office in 1849 operated from the Courthouse. Like Gundagai the original town site moved up the hill after the 1852 Tumut River floods. In 1860 thousands passed through the small town on their way to the goldfields at Kiandra (1859) in the Snowy Mountains and later to Adelong on the plains. Tumut emerged as a solid town. With gold came bushrangers and Ned Kelly’s brother operated in this district in the 1870s. By 1866 there were eleven hotels in the town and the town population was around 400; in 1887 Tumut became a municipality; and in 1903 the branch railway line from Gundagai reached the town. Dairying and forestry became major district industries in the 20th century and the Tumut River became a major site for hydroelectric power. Blowering Dam was built just above the town with Tumut 1, 2 and 3 power stations on the Tumut River. In autumn the Lombardy Poplars along the Tumut River display great colour. They were planted in 1861. More autumn colour can be found in the Avenue of Elms which leads to the racecourse, thus it is not surprising that Tumut established the Festival of the Falling Leaf in the 1950s. Tumut was one of the many sites considered for the National Capital by a Royal Commission but Canberra was finally selected for that. Tumut was selected by the House of Representatives in 1904 but then replaced by Bombala and then the Senate replaced it with Dalgety. But the NSW parliament refused to cede land around Dalgety so four years later after much politicking a site near Yass was finally approved. All places considered had to have good flat land, a good water supply and be further than 100 miles from Sydney.
The town’s historic buildings include:
1. On the way into town from Gundagai is the Old Tumut Butter Factory. It was established in 1902 and is now the Information Centre. Opposite it is the Broom Factory. It was established in 1946 by the Tumut Cooperative Millet Society. It went into private ownership in 1978 and still makes by hand traditional millet brooms. In the 1920s Tumut had 120 millet producers. Today it has just three. It is the only broom factory left in Australia.
2. Next on left is the Catholic Church. The first red brick church built in 1859 is used by the Catholic School as a hall. The fine blue granite church opened in 1878. It is known for its Rusconi marble altar and German stained glass windows. The nuns opened the present Catholic School in 1883 and their convent was finished in 1886.
3. At the roundabout turn right to the Presbyterian Church. The first Presbyterian was built in 1856 elsewhere. This current Uniting Church was built in 1878 as the Presbyterian Church.
4. In the Main St. before the second roundabout is the School of Arts. Built in 1891. It has a beautiful classical style façade with good symmetry.
5. Next to it is the Bank of NSW now Westpac. A classical colonnaded building of 1891 with Ionic columns.
6. Diagonally from it is the Commercial Bank of Sydney with fluted iron columns and French windows in the upstairs residence. Now a NAB Bank. Built in 1889 by Mansfield brothers architects.
7. Right is the Royal Hotel. The upper French windows date it to about 1860 when the Kiandra gold rush began. It was formerly known as the Rising Moon Hotel.
8. The Oriental Hotel. Built in 1876 replacing an earlier 1850 hotel. It has fine cast iron lacework on the balcony.
9. On the opposite corner is the Courthouse. Architect was James Barnet. Built in 1878. The stables were erected in 1879 and the police station completed in 1874. Beside the Police Station is the Tumut Official Residence built in 1896 in Queen Anne Federation style with rounded window, gable, veranda with wooden posts etc.
10. Worte’s cottage. Polychromatic red brick with yellow brick quoins. Decorative fretwork on barge boards. Pretty bay window. Street facing gable. Built around 1890.
11. Further down the street at next intersection is the Anglican Church. A church barn was built in 1857 and this grand church was designed by architect Edmund Blacket who designed the Carcoar Church, the University of Sydney quadrangle etc. It was started in 1875 and completed in 1878. Note the dark brick work patterns beneath the quadruple façade windows. Tower completed in 1881. Have a look inside too.
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Tumut. The town nestles along the Tumut River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee which it joins in Gundagai. It begins about 40 kms from Mt Kosciusko in Kosciusko National Park and it has three dam/reservoirs along it as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydroelectric power generation system. Tumut has over 800 mm of rain yearly. Hamilton Hume discovered the Tumut River in 1824 and the first white squatter Benjamin Warby arrived in 1828 at Darbalara although he and the ones who followed him only became licensed leaseholders from 1839. They included George and William Shelley of Been (Tumut Plains) station. Shelley senior was a missionary and they are credited with making sure there were no Aboriginal deaths or massacres near Tumut. More settles arrived in the 1840s when land leasing was legal. A courthouse was established in 1845. The town was laid out in 1848 and a police constable was appointed. But by 1856 few buildings were more than mere slab huts. The first Post Office in 1849 operated from the Courthouse. Like Gundagai the original town site moved up the hill after the 1852 Tumut River floods. In 1860 thousands passed through the small town on their way to the goldfields at Kiandra (1859) in the Snowy Mountains and later to Adelong on the plains. Tumut emerged as a solid town. With gold came bushrangers and Ned Kelly’s brother operated in this district in the 1870s. By 1866 there were eleven hotels in the town and the town population was around 400; in 1887 Tumut became a municipality; and in 1903 the branch railway line from Gundagai reached the town. Dairying and forestry became major district industries in the 20th century and the Tumut River became a major site for hydroelectric power. Blowering Dam was built just above the town with Tumut 1, 2 and 3 power stations on the Tumut River. In autumn the Lombardy Poplars along the Tumut River display great colour. They were planted in 1861. More autumn colour can be found in the Avenue of Elms which leads to the racecourse, thus it is not surprising that Tumut established the Festival of the Falling Leaf in the 1950s. Tumut was one of the many sites considered for the National Capital by a Royal Commission but Canberra was finally selected for that. Tumut was selected by the House of Representatives in 1904 but then replaced by Bombala and then the Senate replaced it with Dalgety. But the NSW parliament refused to cede land around Dalgety so four years later after much politicking a site near Yass was finally approved. All places considered had to have good flat land, a good water supply and be further than 100 miles from Sydney.
The town’s historic buildings include:
1. On the way into town from Gundagai is the Old Tumut Butter Factory. It was established in 1902 and is now the Information Centre. Opposite it is the Broom Factory. It was established in 1946 by the Tumut Cooperative Millet Society. It went into private ownership in 1978 and still makes by hand traditional millet brooms. In the 1920s Tumut had 120 millet producers. Today it has just three. It is the only broom factory left in Australia.
2. Next on left is the Catholic Church. The first red brick church built in 1859 is used by the Catholic School as a hall. The fine blue granite church opened in 1878. It is known for its Rusconi marble altar and German stained glass windows. The nuns opened the present Catholic School in 1883 and their convent was finished in 1886.
3. At the roundabout turn right to the Presbyterian Church. The first Presbyterian was built in 1856 elsewhere. This current Uniting Church was built in 1878 as the Presbyterian Church.
4. In the Main St. before the second roundabout is the School of Arts. Built in 1891. It has a beautiful classical style façade with good symmetry.
5. Next to it is the Bank of NSW now Westpac. A classical colonnaded building of 1891 with Ionic columns.
6. Diagonally from it is the Commercial Bank of Sydney with fluted iron columns and French windows in the upstairs residence. Now a NAB Bank. Built in 1889 by Mansfield brothers architects.
7. Right is the Royal Hotel. The upper French windows date it to about 1860 when the Kiandra gold rush began. It was formerly known as the Rising Moon Hotel.
8. The Oriental Hotel. Built in 1876 replacing an earlier 1850 hotel. It has fine cast iron lacework on the balcony.
9. On the opposite corner is the Courthouse. Architect was James Barnet. Built in 1878. The stables were erected in 1879 and the police station completed in 1874. Beside the Police Station is the Tumut Official Residence built in 1896 in Queen Anne Federation style with rounded window, gable, veranda with wooden posts etc.
10. Worte’s cottage. Polychromatic red brick with yellow brick quoins. Decorative fretwork on barge boards. Pretty bay window. Street facing gable. Built around 1890.
11. Further down the street at next intersection is the Anglican Church. A church barn was built in 1857 and this grand church was designed by architect Edmund Blacket who designed the Carcoar Church, the University of Sydney quadrangle etc. It was started in 1875 and completed in 1878. Note the dark brick work patterns beneath the quadruple façade windows. Tower completed in 1881. Have a look inside too.
Tumut. The town nestles along the Tumut River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee which it joins in Gundagai. It begins about 40 kms from Mt Kosciusko in Kosciusko National Park and it has three dam/reservoirs along it as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydroelectric power generation system. Tumut has over 800 mm of rain yearly. Hamilton Hume discovered the Tumut River in 1824 and the first white squatter Benjamin Warby arrived in 1828 at Darbalara although he and the ones who followed him only became licensed leaseholders from 1839. They included George and William Shelley of Been (Tumut Plains) station. Shelley senior was a missionary and they are credited with making sure there were no Aboriginal deaths or massacres near Tumut. More settles arrived in the 1840s when land leasing was legal. A courthouse was established in 1845. The town was laid out in 1848 and a police constable was appointed. But by 1856 few buildings were more than mere slab huts. The first Post Office in 1849 operated from the Courthouse. Like Gundagai the original town site moved up the hill after the 1852 Tumut River floods. In 1860 thousands passed through the small town on their way to the goldfields at Kiandra (1859) in the Snowy Mountains and later to Adelong on the plains. Tumut emerged as a solid town. With gold came bushrangers and Ned Kelly’s brother operated in this district in the 1870s. By 1866 there were eleven hotels in the town and the town population was around 400; in 1887 Tumut became a municipality; and in 1903 the branch railway line from Gundagai reached the town. Dairying and forestry became major district industries in the 20th century and the Tumut River became a major site for hydroelectric power. Blowering Dam was built just above the town with Tumut 1, 2 and 3 power stations on the Tumut River. In autumn the Lombardy Poplars along the Tumut River display great colour. They were planted in 1861. More autumn colour can be found in the Avenue of Elms which leads to the racecourse, thus it is not surprising that Tumut established the Festival of the Falling Leaf in the 1950s. Tumut was one of the many sites considered for the National Capital by a Royal Commission but Canberra was finally selected for that. Tumut was selected by the House of Representatives in 1904 but then replaced by Bombala and then the Senate replaced it with Dalgety. But the NSW parliament refused to cede land around Dalgety so four years later after much politicking a site near Yass was finally approved. All places considered had to have good flat land, a good water supply and be further than 100 miles from Sydney.
The town’s historic buildings include:
1. On the way into town from Gundagai is the Old Tumut Butter Factory. It was established in 1902 and is now the Information Centre. Opposite it is the Broom Factory. It was established in 1946 by the Tumut Cooperative Millet Society. It went into private ownership in 1978 and still makes by hand traditional millet brooms. In the 1920s Tumut had 120 millet producers. Today it has just three. It is the only broom factory left in Australia.
2. Next on left is the Catholic Church. The first red brick church built in 1859 is used by the Catholic School as a hall. The fine blue granite church opened in 1878. It is known for its Rusconi marble altar and German stained glass windows. The nuns opened the present Catholic School in 1883 and their convent was finished in 1886.
3. At the roundabout turn right to the Presbyterian Church. The first Presbyterian was built in 1856 elsewhere. This current Uniting Church was built in 1878 as the Presbyterian Church.
4. In the Main St. before the second roundabout is the School of Arts. Built in 1891. It has a beautiful classical style façade with good symmetry.
5. Next to it is the Bank of NSW now Westpac. A classical colonnaded building of 1891 with Ionic columns.
6. Diagonally from it is the Commercial Bank of Sydney with fluted iron columns and French windows in the upstairs residence. Now a NAB Bank. Built in 1889 by Mansfield brothers architects.
7. Right is the Royal Hotel. The upper French windows date it to about 1860 when the Kiandra gold rush began. It was formerly known as the Rising Moon Hotel.
8. The Oriental Hotel. Built in 1876 replacing an earlier 1850 hotel. It has fine cast iron lacework on the balcony.
9. On the opposite corner is the Courthouse. Architect was James Barnet. Built in 1878. The stables were erected in 1879 and the police station completed in 1874. Beside the Police Station is the Tumut Official Residence built in 1896 in Queen Anne Federation style with rounded window, gable, veranda with wooden posts etc.
10. Worte’s cottage. Polychromatic red brick with yellow brick quoins. Decorative fretwork on barge boards. Pretty bay window. Street facing gable. Built around 1890.
11. Further down the street at next intersection is the Anglican Church. A church barn was built in 1857 and this grand church was designed by architect Edmund Blacket who designed the Carcoar Church, the University of Sydney quadrangle etc. It was started in 1875 and completed in 1878. Note the dark brick work patterns beneath the quadruple façade windows. Tower completed in 1881. Have a look inside too.
Fall 1998
Western wall, Los Angeles, CA
35mm film
Trixter, myself on the character and DASH 2000 piece.
I was chilling with DASH a lot those days, messing around with music and just politicking. Dash passed away early 2011 of Cancer and strangely enough the first memorial piece painted was just around the corner from this spot.
I just completed This recent memorial mural with El Mac off of Vermont and 1st street in Los Angeles.
| RIP Dominic DASH2000 Smith • 1969-2011 |
Tumut. The town nestles along the Tumut River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee which it joins in Gundagai. It begins about 40 kms from Mt Kosciusko in Kosciusko National Park and it has three dam/reservoirs along it as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydroelectric power generation system. Tumut has over 800 mm of rain yearly. Hamilton Hume discovered the Tumut River in 1824 and the first white squatter Benjamin Warby arrived in 1828 at Darbalara although he and the ones who followed him only became licensed leaseholders from 1839. They included George and William Shelley of Been (Tumut Plains) station. Shelley senior was a missionary and they are credited with making sure there were no Aboriginal deaths or massacres near Tumut. More settlers arrived in the 1840s when land leasing was legal. A courthouse was established in 1845. The town was laid out in 1848 and a police constable was appointed. But by 1856 few buildings were more than mere slab huts. The first Post Office in 1849 operated from the Courthouse. Like Gundagai the original town site moved up the hill after the 1852 Tumut River floods. In 1860 thousands passed through the small town on their way to the goldfields at Kiandra (1859) in the Snowy Mountains and later to Adelong on the plains. Tumut emerged as a solid town. With gold came bushrangers and Ned Kelly’s brother operated in this district in the 1870s. By 1866 there were eleven hotels in the town and the town population was around 400; in 1887 Tumut became a municipality; and in 1903 the branch railway line from Gundagai reached the town. Dairying and forestry became major industries in the 20th century and the Tumut River became a major site for hydroelectric power. Blowering Dam was built just above the town with Tumut 1, 2 and 3 power stations on the Tumut River. In autumn the Lombardy Poplars along the Tumut River display great colour. They were planted in 1861. More autumn colour can be found in the Avenue of Elms which leads to the racecourse, thus it is not surprising that Tumut established the Festival of the Falling Leaf in the 1950s. Tumut was one of the many sites considered for the National Capital by a Royal Commission but Canberra was finally selected for that. Tumut was selected by the House of Representatives in 1904 but then replaced by Bombala and then the Senate replaced it with Dalgety. The NSW parliament refused to cede land at Dalgety so 4 years later after politicking a site near Yass was finally approved. Places considered had to have good flat land, good water supply and be more than 100 miles from Sydney.
Tumut. Bridging the Tumut River, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee which it joins in Gundagai, this pretty foothills town nestles as the base of Kosciusko National Park. The Tumut River rises about 40 kms from Mt Kosciusko and it has three dam/reservoirs along it as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydroelectric power generation system. Whilst Tumut has over 800 mm of rain yearly. Hamilton Hume discovered the Tumut River in 1824 and the first white squatter Benjamin Warby arrived in 1828 at Darbalara although he and the ones who followed him only became licensed leaseholders from 1839. They included George and William Shelley of Been (Tumut Plains) station. Shelley senior was a missionary and they are credited with making sure there were no Aboriginal deaths or massacres near Tumut. More settles arrived in the 1840s when land leasing was legal. A courthouse was established in 1845. The town was laid out in 1848 and a police constable was appointed. But by 1856 few buildings were more than mere slab huts. The first Post Office in 1849 operated from the Courthouse. Like Gundagai the original town site moved up the hill after the 1852 Tumut River floods. In 1860 thousands passed through the small town on their way to the goldfields at Kiandra (1859) in the Snowy Mountains and later to Adelong on the plains. Tumut emerged as a solid town. With gold came bushrangers and Ned Kelly’s brother operated in this district in the 1870s. By 1866 there were eleven hotels in the town and the town population was around 400; in 1887 Tumut became a municipality; and in 1903 the branch railway line from Gundagai reached the town. Dairying and forestry became major district industries in the 20th century and the Tumut River became a major site for hydroelectric power stations during the construction of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. Blowering Dam was built just above the town. Tumut 1, 2 and 3 power stations were also built on the Tumut River. In autumn the Lombardy Poplars along the Tumut River display great colour. They were planted in 1861. More autumn colour can be found in the Avenue of Elms which leads to the racecourse, thus it is not surprising that Tumut established the Festival of the Falling Leaf in the 1950s. Tumut was one of the many sites considered for the National Capital but Canberra was finally selected for that. A Royal Commission looked at Tumut’s suitability as the national capital. Tumut was selected by the House of Representatives in 1904 but then replaced by Bombala and then the Senate replaced it with Dalgety. But the NSW parliament refused to cede land around Dalgety so four years later after much politicking a site near Yass was finally approved. Like all places considered it had to have good flat land, a good water supply and be further than 100 miles from Sydney but still in NSW.